Central Texas Tolbert Chili Group

     Welcome!  Come on in and look around!

     Stay for a spell - there's a lot to see!

      Last Saturday's event, the 6th Annual Cedar Hall BBQ & Chili Cookoff for Special Olympics was absolutely wonderful!   A little chilly in the shade and the breezes made flame adjustment a little tricky, but 48 of you chili cooks came out in support of this truly worthy cause, and we can't thank you enough.

     There was some great chili and the judges had quite a task narrowing it down to one.  Congratulations to our old friend and Usual Suspect, Frank Flores of Austin who got top honors.    Frank is now qualified to cook in the 46th Annual Original Terlingua International Frank X. Tolbert-Wick Fowler Memorial Championship Chili Cookoff 'Behind the Store' this November 3rd!  Way to go!

     Congratulation to Zoee T., a Martini in the making for winning 1st Place Junior Chili!   With Grandmother Janet Matthews setting the example and following in the family ways, Zoee'll be a full strength Martini Girl in the not too distant future.  

    We want to say thank you to Kevin Gibson of Lease Crue fame for stepping up to the microphone to conduct the auction again this year.  Kevin does a terrific job of driving home the point of the auction in the first place - to raise as much money as possible for Special Olympics.  He got the prices way, way up!   Like $150 for a jar of chocolate chip cookies, or a case of paper towels for $40 - twice - to the same guy!  (Thanks Ron!)  Also notable was the nice wooden wind screen branded with the Texas A&M logo sold to Terry Wright for $145.  Terry had originally donated the wood used for its construction to begin with!

     Sam Fleissner's been paying too much attention to those commercials featuring a baby dispensing investment advice.  It was like life imitating art when she did her bidding based on her 4-year-old's urging.   She got some real nice patio chairs in the deal though.   It was also pretty neat to watch folks at her table pull out their wallets and pitch in when the price exceeded her limit and they wanted her to stay in for the win.  Mighty generous of everybody.

    Special thanks to Logos of Lockhart, Garage Door Services, the GEO Group, and Tuttle Lumber for their sponsorship and support of this event, and a great big CTTCG Thank You to Cedar Hall.  Gosh, we just love you folks!  We couldn't have an event like this anywhere else.   You work right alongside us to keep things running smooth.  You donate.  You participate.  You accommodate.  You even buy things at our auction.   Paulette Hayter, the owner, and Sandy Chapman, the manager - YOU LADIES ROCK!   We're proud to call Cedar Hall the home base of the Central Texas Tolbert Chili Group!

     We're also pretty darn proud of Tom and Jill Burrows too.   The cookoff went amazing smooth in spite of all the different categories.  Judges were in and out.   We're lucky to call you really outstanding Usual Suspects, and the folks at the Special Olympics are gonna feel pretty lucky too when you present them with "maybe just a hair over" NINE THOU$AND DOLLAR$ !!!   Boy oh boy!   Bless you both for all your hard work and dedication.

     This weekend you can all stay home and clean out the garage or spread the weed 'n feed because we're off.   The next event is scheduled for February 25th in Luling at the Amerigan Legion.  See the What's Coming Up page for all the details. 

      Fellas... time's a tickin'.  February 17th is this Friday.  You gotta get your entry for the Tolbert Texas Men's State Chili Championship postmarked by then to guarantee your shirt size. 

     Guess that just about wraps it up.  See ya'll in Luling!

Viva Terlingua!

   Come late October, these two brave and adventurous gals are gonna borrow a couple of horses with saddles, and a trailer for 'em too.   It's gonna be Martini Time on the Trail as our gals accompanyTom Nall and Patrick "Sidekick" Hendricks on the horseback ride from Alpine to Terlingua to raise funds for ALS.   It's about an 80 mile trip and the plan is cover somewhere in the 15 mile per day distance.   My calculator says that's going to be about 5.33 butt-numbing days.   Their goal is to raise $10K between now and November 3rd, and they need sponsors!   Click on the Yippee-Yi-Yo picture above to send 'em an email of interest.

Male pattern baldness?  No, more like a blank canvas in this case.   

      We got a copy of the letter sent from Dewey Lawhon & Robert Corley to the troops in regards to the upcoming Tolbert Men's State Chili Championship....

Dear Friends and Chili Cooks, 

Attached is the flyer* for this year's 2012 Tolbert Men's State Chili Championship Cook-off to be held on March 3rd at the Chili Park in beautiful downtown Maxdale, Texas, which is about 10 miles south, and then a few miles west of Killeen (off Highway 195).  We are once again working to make this cook-off a premier event in terms of participation and fun, and we hope you will be a part of it.  This year promises to be another fun weekend with the Men's State cook-off, the ever-popular, 4th annual, Beer-off on Friday night (no entry fee…just bring two bottles or cans of your favorite beer(s) for judging that you get to do), the Tacky Tropical drink contest Saturday night, and the Brazilian Open on Sunday.  Oh, by the way, at booth cook-offs, the top 3 cooks qualify to cook “Behind the Store” in Terlingua and compete for the international championship. 

Republic Tequila is once again providing an incentive for all of you hopeful Men’s State chili champions.  If your chili is the best and you are crowned as “King,” and if you are displaying a bottle of Republic Tequila on your table that is filled up to at least “up to Terlingua,” you will win $50.00.  So bring a bottle of Republic Tequila with you, display it on your chili table, and you could walk away with fifty big ones!  (Hey, even if you don’t win, you can always drink it later!) 

RV and tent camping is allowed, and there are a limited RV hook-ups (electricity and water only) for $10.00/night.  Spaces are provided on a first come, first served basis.  Contact Ken Sperry if you have any questions.  He can be reached at 254-290-1950 or by e-mail at kennethsperry@hotmail.com. 

This year’s head cooks will receive a free t-shirt for entering and competing in the Men’s State championship. The deadline date to guarantee that you get a t-shirt in the size you want is February 17th.  Please send your registration and entry fees to Ken Sperry (address is on the attached flyer) by that date to be sure you get the size you want.  

So, come on out, spend the weekend, and let’s have some fun in Maxdale!  See you there!

Couldn't have said it better ourselves!    

Don't Forget-

       On Friday, March 2nd, the day before the Tolbert Men's State, in Maxdale, starting promptly at 1:00 p.m. will be the annual Tolbert Planning Meeting.  This meeting covers a lot of information and committees are selected to plan and carry out this year's 46th Annual Championship cookoff Behind the Store in Terlingua.  Everyone is welcome to sit in.

     March 3rd, also in Maxdale will be the Tolbert Men's State Chili Championship.  This championship has had a couple of multiple time winners (Tommy Bennett 1998, 2000 and 2007; and Ted Hume 1997 and 2001), but it has never had a back-to-back champion.  Jimmy Smith of Harker Heights will be not only defending his title, he'll be trying to break the jinx.  Early registration is encouraged (by February 17th) to ensure the correct sized event T-shirt.  A printable entry form has been posted on the What's Coming Up page for your use.  

     Following Men's State, on Sunday, March 4th, also in Maxdale will be the Brazilian Open.  It is the trailing event of a long weekend with a Noon turn-in. With it being a chili only competition, cooks are generally packed up, loaded and on the road by 1:30 p.m., trophies in hand.

    March 17th is the Al Hopkins-Tolbert Texas State Open Chili Championship.  Talk about some bragging rights!  Dwight has been working with the Lockhart Chamber of Commerce to make this year's Texas State bigger and better than ever!   They're signing up vendors and family activities are being worked out.  Let's keep our fingers crossed for some nice spring-time weather having settled in by then.  Tabitha Williams is the defending champion for this event.

     Brand new this year will be the Mud Dauber Festival and Chili Cookoff being held March 24th in Luckenbach, Texas.  Yep, the Red is Returning to the Bach!  Benefiting ALS, details are posted on the Luckenbach website.  There are still some glitches in their reservation system and once they have it worked out we will post a link here.  Not your mother's cookoff, this brand new event promises to be a lot of fun.  Right smack dab in the middle of all the other things Luckenbach has planned for the Mud Dauber Fest (...like Chicken Shit Bingo), we're going to be the center of attention for an anticipated crowd of 2000!  Cooks of all levels and show teams of all sizes are encouraged to participate in this brand new cookoff. Keep an eye on the What's Coming Up page for details as they unfold.   

     One thing you do need to know about the Luckenbach cookoff is that there will be a People's Choice category.  If you decide to participate in this People's Choice, you will need to bring extra chili, and it does not necessarily have to be of the competition variety either.  Luckenbach will be selling tasting kits to the public with special cups, spoons and bibs as well as tokens of some sort.  Cooks participating in the People's Choice will collect those tokens and at the end of the day the most tokens wins a cool prize.

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     Debbi Tucker and Janet Matthews of Martini Girl fame are planning a big ALS fund raising stunt for this coming October. 

      At the moment it's kind of hush-hush, so "stay tuned" for more info!

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Click anywhere on the photo for an email form to attach jpegs to.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2011 WORLD CHAMP!

George Odom

of Manchaca, Texas

He's one of ours!

The Central Texas Tolbert Chili Group didn't stop there either! Four of the top ten chili (indeed, 12 out of 20), and six of the nine show trophies were presented to some of our Usual Suspects as well! Yeah Us! We Rock - Literally!

2011 Ladies State ChampionJill Burrows of Lockhart, Texas2011 Tolbert Men's State ChampionJimmy Smith of Harker Heights, Texas 2011 Texas State WinnerTabitha Williams of Luling, Texas 

Did you see the new banner we're hanging these days?

Cool, huh?

Who We Are

Mike "BB" Hughes & Dwight Hamilton, BFF

A group of friends who just happen to cook award winning chili and BBQ while we raise awareness and funds for some mighty worthy causes.

It's me - Laury McCulloughI'm your webmaster and always available atchili.reporter@yahoo.com

What We Do

Well, that's simple.  We cook and promote the Official State Dish of Texas:  Chili. 

We host over 30 chili events per year at a variety of locations, including the Al Hopkins Tolbert Texas State Chili Championship in Lockhart.  

Why We Do It

Aside from having a lot of fun, we support a long and varied list of charitable causes like Phone Cards for the Troops, the VFW Scholarship Fund, Special Olympics, and Breast Cancer resources to list just a few.    Check the Where We've Been and Why We Do It  page for beneficiary details for some of the cookoffs.

When We Do It

Most every weekend!  Be sure to check the What's Coming Up page for the details on this week's cookoff!

Where We Do It

All over Central Texas!  For most events we will have a map and/or directions on how to get to the various locations on the Map Page to help you out.