Optimist club to host chili challenge

The Boardman Optimist Club will be hosting the eighth annual Celebrity and Political Chili Challenge on Oct. 1 at Avion on the Water on Western Reserve Road from 6-8:30 p.m. Political and celebrity chefs will prepare their own special chili for all attendees to sample. Chefs will be competing for the following awards voted on by the tasters: Hottest Chili, Most Original Chili, Favorite Political Chili, Favorite Celebrity Chili and Best of the Chili Cook-off.

Each ticket has an official ballot. Additional ballots may be purchased and every guest chef and attendee has an opportunity to “stuff the ballot box” in their favor to win. Admission to the event is $10. Proceeds from this event are used by the Boardman Optimist Club to provide financial and personal services to youth projects in Boardman.

Since the Boardman Optimist Club was chartered on Aug. 14, 1990, the club has collaborated with Akron’s Children’s Hospital to host a bicycle rodeo, provide gifts during the holidays for the children at the hospital, provide grocery gift cards to area families and sponsor the Boardman Challenger baseball team, along with sponsoring various individual requests from Boardman area children and families.

The chili cook-off is an event which enables the club to continue supporting youth projects in Boardman. It is not a political rally, but a charity fundraiser. This year, along with area politicians and celebrity chefs, the heads of the Mahoning County Democratic Party and Mahoning County Republican Party, Dave Betras and Mark Monrie, will go head to head to see who makes the best chili.

To purchase tickets for the event or for additional information, contact John Donofrio at 330-540-8552 or Burl Patton at 330-540-1407.