Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Suffolk Moose Lodge 141 hosted its first chili cook-off. With 12 entries, lodge members Kim Campbell took first place and Melanie Evans won second. Campbell was awarded $100 and Evans got $25.

Volunteer and member Kelley Modlin said she was impressed with the turnout, especially since it was the first year hosting the event. 

“We’re trying to raise money … and we haven’t been doing a lot of things, so we’re trying to do new things to try to get people interested,” Modlin said. 

Both Campbell and Evans were excited to have won but did not expect it. Evans said her chili may have stood out because she adds a bit of sugar. Campbell said she tried to think of something more out of the box and whipped up a chili “concoction.”

Neither of them have competed in a cook-off competition before, but they hope to continue entering the lodge’s every year. 

“I got to beat [Kim] now,” Evans said laughing, saying her and Campbell are “besties.”

Hosted by member and volunteer Mike Evans, the cook-off raised money for Mooseheart and Moosehaven. According to its website, Mooseheart is “a residential childcare facility” in Mooseheart, Illinois, offering care to children whose families are unable to do so. Moosehaven is a retirement facility in Orange Park, Florida.