Keeping It Simple Is Fun (And Yummy)
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Hill Country Living
By Coulter Fussell
Sometimes I get wrapped up in work and accidentally go weeks without socializing in town outside of ordering a to-go box at the Pigsaver plate lunch line. But this past couple of weeks I’ve gotten out and participated in two of my favorite Water Valley activities: poll-working an election and attending the Rotary Club’s annual Chili Cook-Off. I’m realizing as I write this that both of these events involve voting.
The Rotary Club’s Chili Cook-Off is arguably my favorite event in Water Valley all year. Sincere apologies to any member of the Chamber of Commerce reading this who works 365 days a year to bring us the much-loved Watermelon Carnival! But, man, I love the Rotary Club’s Chili Cook-Off. I think it’s the sheer simplicity of the event and the fact that it only lasts like an hour. The thesis of the Watermelon Carnival is “Behold the red and green glory of the watermelon universe!! We are but seeds in its sweet, juice-full glory and time is but a rind within which the promise of holy picnics sprouts eternal!!”
Whereas, the thesis of the Rotary Club’s Chili- Cook Off is “Who made the best chili?” I guess I shouldn’t compare the two events because it’s like comparing apples and oranges. Or, more accurately, chili and watermelons.
The official chili judges are tasked with taste testing around 30 different chilis while the attending audience gets to do the same, except unofficially. Every year, in my excitement for the event, I make the mistake of getting a giant bowl of the first chili I see and then I barely have room to taste test the remaining twenty-nine chilis. And, predictably, I made the same mistake this year. But I powered on and found room for two extra chilies so that I could give out an unofficial first, second and third place chili recognition here in this column. Granted, they were the only three chilis I tried but I would like to unofficially congratulate Laura O’Neal, Lloyd Caulfield and Denise Welch on their unofficial chili wins from me. I think Denise Welch may have also officially won, as well! This woman is clearly a chili savant.
Almost as fun as the one-hour chili cook-off was the 14-hour shift of poll working out at Sylva Rena for the Mississippi Governor’s election. The only time I ever drive out to the Sylva Rena Community Center is to poll work for that precinct and, no matter the weather, the landscape is always so beautiful out there. Since I only make this drive for elections, each voting day at 5:45 a.m. when I pass a certain rolling, pastured Sylva Rena hill in front of a glorious pink sunrise, I associate the accompanying cows that occupy that hill with voting. It’s the only time I see them. To me, they have symbolically become cows of democracy. I’m not entirely sure what kind of cows they are but it would be doubly-democratic if they wound up in the Chili Cook-Off and were voted on as Best Chili.
On that note, I should probably wrap up this week’s column up. The next main social events in Water Valley are the Christmas parade and the tour of homes where we can unofficially vote on Best Float and Best House. See y’all there!
