The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Community

Discussion

October 11, 2009

UPDATE: Chili cook-off nets VFD $1,200

By Patrick Cooley

SHARPSVILLE — Chili lovers and cooks from all over the Shenango Valley descended on Sharpsville High School on Saturday for a cook-off held by local residents to support the Sharpsville Volunteer Fire Department.

The event was organized by four families who have been helped by the department in some way, and also included a Chinese auction and a bake sale.

“We raised $1,200,” said Marie Popatak, one of the organizers. “That’s not bad for our first year.”

Everyone who came to the cook-off was given two tickets, one to vote for their favorite chili cooked by an adult, and another to vote for their favorite chili cooked by a child.

John Wolfe, an eighth-grader at Sharpsville Middle School, won the children’s cook-off with a concoction he called “Red Hot Wolfe.”

“I saw a flier for (the cook-off) on the back of the middle school lunch menu,” John said. “I decided to sign up.

“It feels great to win; it takes a lot of the pressure off,” he said.

Roberta Biros of Delaware Township said that people kept coming back for seconds of the chili she cooked for the event. Participants liked her chili so much they voted it the winner of the adult cook-off.

“I saw a write-up in The Herald,” Mrs. Biros said. “It seemed like a good way to meet the people of Sharpsville.”

She said the men seemed to like her chili a little bit more than the women.

“The guys are a little bit better with hot chili,” Mrs. Biros said.

When John Libonati of the McGonigle Ambulance Service was asked who cooked the chili his group entered, he said, “If it wins, it was me, if it doesn’t it was Sharon Benninghoff.” (Note: Ms. Benninghoff was the real cook)

McGonigle called its chili “heart palpitating chili,” referring to the effect it might have on someone if they were unprepared for how hot it was.

McGonigle ended up placing third in the adult cook-off.

Placing a very close second in the children’s cook-off was Sharpsville seventh-grader Sean Williams, with his “piping hot chili,” a recipe he said he got from his dad.

“We’ve been feeding him chili ever since he was this high,” said Ross Williams, Sean’s father, putting his hand just a few feet off the ground.

Text Only
Community
  • Check out The Exhibit

    Current and past art students at Sharpsville Area High School will show their wares this weekend in the school’s second student-organized art show.

    May 17, 2012

  • hillview garden Art show highlights new GC gardens

    Elementary kids in Grove City adopted Grove City Community Gardens to highlight at their spring art show, and were given a unique garden of their own by a noted sculptor.

    May 10, 2012 1 Photo

  • Scouts to fete Knecht, Mastrian

    French Creek Council, Boy Scouts of America, will honor Will Knecht and John “Chip” Mastrian with its 24th Annual Distinguished Citizen Award at a banquet May 22 in The Corinthian, Sharon.

    May 8, 2012

  • Academy as popular as ever

    Hermitage School District Summer Academy is offering more courses than last year and has already equaled last year’s course enrollments.

    May 8, 2012

  • Chorale family affair

    Christine and Terry Bowman met in the Sharon High marching band, and music has been an integral part of their life together.

    May 3, 2012

  • Songwriter’s isolation blooms into ‘Marigold’

    Rick Hornyak had just moved to San Antonio and, separated from his friends in Austin, looked inward.

    April 26, 2012

  • Local girl has way with poetry

    Marissa Works came from nowhere to win a poetry recitation competition at Hickory High School.

    April 24, 2012

  • bmwomen Women's work

    Calling the Masury-Brookfield Woman’s Club a social organization is just half of it.

    April 22, 2012 1 Photo

  • Local band’s music reflects ‘sense of place’

    Terry Dach described his new recording as “organic,” but immediately turned to James Willaman for a definition of the term in a musical sense.
    “Does that mean we did it ourselves?” Dach asked.

    April 12, 2012

  • Old school

    Generations of students learned to read and write in the Hutchinson School, a one-room schoolhouse on Mitchell Road in Shenango Township. Today, historians hope those students’ descendants step forward to furnish and refurbish the small, red brick school to its former glory.

    April 8, 2012