Chili experts head to Downtown Houma Jan. 29

Chili experts will converge on downtown Houma Jan. 29, 2012, for what the Houma Downtown development Corp. hopes will become a mid-winter and between seasons tradition.

Twenty teams are expected to pay a $100 entry fee each to serve their best chili to visitors paying $5 to sample their fill.

“The chili cook-off will be open to the public from noon to 6 p.m.,” Main Street Manager Anne Picou said.

As an ongoing effort to enhance downtown development, Picou said this event would open the year and set a stage for various events, and help in the funding of beautification projects.

“We are trying to focus on helping daytime retail,” she said regarding how proceeds from the cook-off will be spent downtown. “We want to start [constructing] bulb outs.”

Bulb outs, Picou explained, are flower planters placed along sidewalks. The idea is to offer a presence of life and encourage foot traffic in the downtown area.

“With all these studies the parish has been doing, we found that the more you get away from that hard core cement and start softening it up with vegetation, people start walking and feeling like there is life,” she said.

To fund this project, downtown developers are offing with the chili event, entertainment on the Courthouse lawn and alternative selections for those not accustomed to the featured food.

Asked why chili instead of gumbo, Picou said that by offering a different fare, the competition would not conflict with efforts to revive the Downtown on the Bayou festival. “For that, we thought a gumbo contest could be held Friday night with Saturday being the festival.” Downtown on the Bayou details are pending.