By Holly Sosa
Over the weekend, our small town held an annual Frontier Day event which is essentially a gathering to raise money for the community. There are games, a raffle, activities, a chili cook off, and music. Our Native American community comes out to share their culture through selling their art, jewelry, and performing traditional dances. In small towns like ours, I believe it’s important to get out during events like Frontier Day. It creates a sense of belonging and bonds the community together as you meet the people living alongside you.
I’m a younger member in the Lucerne Valley community and feel as if I represent the families that are just beginning their lives here, like my Lucies. Taking that to task, I decided to enter the chili cook off and enlisted my stepdaughter’s help. We stayed up late preparing our best chili and used top secret ingredients and the next morning, I woke up before the sun to anonymously drop off our entry. Nevermind that I got very lost along the way and ended up several miles into the desert before calling my husband at work for directions. I’m not known for my sense of direction, folks, but I got the chili there, paid my entry fee, and left with my head held high.
We returned later in the day once the festivities began. It was incredibly hot. Unbearably so. Evelyn was whining just 30 minutes in, so I quickly jammed everything we needed to see into the next 10 minutes. Chili voting, check. Raffle entries, check. Native American dance, check. Booth shopping, check. Obligatory photo by the jail, check. Then we retreated to our air conditioned car. We didn’t even stick around to hear the winners of the chili cook off announced. All four of us were done.
We went back later in the afternoon to pick up my slow cooker and inquire about the winner of the cook off. My chili did not win, which was not surprising as there were several entries that were positively delicious. But we did win a raffle prize and walked away with a dinner for two to Golden Corral. My pride was only slightly wounded as I was genuinely thrilled to just be entered and help raise some money for the community. It was a great way to bond with my stepdaughter and teach her how to whip up an easy batch of chili. Life skills, right?
Keep up with my family and our small town and follow me on Instagram, where I share daily photos and peeks into our live as a blended family living small town life.
The post Frontier Day and My Chili Contest Entry appeared first on Our Holly Days.