Heating up a cool night

With almost 50 years of chili-making experience simmering in a heated tray on the table in Central Park, Brian Morris spent Thursday evening giving samples of his signature dish to all comers during Main Street Mt. Pleasant's Pints in the Park and Chili Cookoff.

Chuckling to himself as many people found the after-effect of eating Morris' chili to be a progressively heating tongue, Morris said the dish had been easy to make and has won the cook-off in past years. He said there are plenty of different kinds of peppers in the pot to raise the temperature for people eating it. The chili, named 'Great Bowls of Fire,” marked the first year Morris had entered the contest on his own instead of representing an area business.

'I started really young wanting to cook,” he said. 'I just tried my hand at it and tried different things and some things clicked. Chili is always great comfort food for fall weather.”

Also a volunteer with Main Street, Morris said he had competed for about eight years. Over the years the event has morphed from simply a chili cook-off, which began in 2002, to adding homemade soups to the contest, and finally about three years ago allowing vendors to offer tastes of craft beer.

In his efforts to help arrange the contest, Morris had recruited the judges and volunteers, including several from Iowa Wesleyan University. He said his hat was off to the judges, as they had 'tasted the hot chili too.”

Main Street Mt. Pleasant Director Lisa Oetken remarked that about 18 contestants had turned out with a variety of chilies and soups, ranging from mild to very hot. An additional six distributors and breweries turned out to offer samples of beers and hard ciders. She said this is an award-winning event Main Street hosts every year.

'The one reason we did this event is because we wanted different demographics downtown,” Oetken explained. 'We have a lot of different events. My oldest son is 25 and he is the one who came up with this about three years ago. To bring young people to the downtown is why we do this.”

Hundreds of people visited the park to try the offerings at the event.

She credited Iowa Wesleyan volunteers for their help setting up the event, saying recently Main Street Mt. Pleasant won a statewide award for its partnership with Iowa Wesleyan.

As the spices in the chili began heating up, Kurt Garretson, of East Grove Farms, a meadery just outside of Mt. Pleasant, found himself serving an increasing number of samples of his pumpkin mead.

'Mead is made with honey,” he explained. 'That is the difference. Wine is made with grapes, beer is made with grain, and mead is made with honey.”

He said he had started the company about five years ago and had become the first meadery in the state.