It was a chilli weekend in Bruderheim!
The Bruderheim Community Church held its annual chilli cookoff on Sunday (Mar. 26).
This free event featured residents of the town cooking up their pots of chilli, reviewed by a panel of judges.
Of all the chilli pots, the gold medal was handed to Cody Bartz. Originally Bartz would just make chilli for his family, but once his church started their friendly competition, he was enthusiastic to join.
"I think this was my fifth year," said Bartz. "I never got on the podium until this year. I don't know what the difference was, but maybe the judges just liked it this year."
Bartz said his secret recipe was handed down by his mother.
"I've tweaked it here and there. A good chef is always tweaking his recipes. The best chefs are never fully satisfied, or else it gets old and stale."
Bartz won the grand prize -- a gold medal and the bragging rights of having the best chilli in town.
"I don't know where they found these cute medals that said 'chilli cookoff' on them. That was kind of cute, and I get a medal, which was nice."
Bartz will be competing next year with a further tweaked version of his chilli, and he hopes that others will join in on the event.
"We try to have some community dinners, we're big fans of potlucks. We're trying to help our community and the larger community of Fort Saskatchewan and Lamont."
To see what other free food events the church has in store, you can see upcoming events on their Facebook page.