Festival fires up Pueblo

A woman sits posed at the edge of her chair. Her nostrils flare as she takes in the pungent smell of a dozen roasters. Dangling from her hand is the equivalent of edible fire. As the sweat beads up on her brow, the audience teeters apprehensively waiting for some resolution to this horrific scene.

This was the scene at Pueblo’s 13th Annual Chile and Frijole Festival.

 According to the Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce, it’s all about peppers this weekend as an anticipated 90,000 visitors converge on Pueblo’s historic Union Avenue to revel in the sights, sounds and smells.
Created by the Chamber of Commerce and presented by Loaf ‘N Jug, the festival is designed to promote the area’s agriculture, especially its home-grown chilies and pinto beans.

The area between 1st and B Streets is literally transformed into a Farmers’ Market metropolis for the weekend. Area farms fill the air with the roaring sounds of fire-fueled roasters and the sweet smell of roasted chiles as pepper aficionados line up to purchase burlap sacks filled with the spicy fruit of the Capsicum plant.

Visit one of the many food vendors lining the streets for a true gastric explosion. If your taste buds border are more delicate, there’s plenty of other farm-fresh produce to sample as well as the opportunity to purchase the wares of talented artisans and craftsmen.

What does a person do with these chiles once they get home? Let 20 of the greatest chile cooks demonstrate as they participate in two separate sanctioned chile cook-offs.

Cooks from as far away as California and Texas will join with local participants in the hopes of advancing to the World Chile Cook-Off Championship in Omaha, Neb. The all-day events will be held Saturday and Sunday in the Pueblo Convention Center parking lot.

Saturday’s Chile and Salsa Showdown at the Convention Center will appeal to festival-goers who are more skilled at using a tortilla chip as a front-end “dip” loader. Both commercial and non-commercial entrants will vie for awards and bragging rights in each of three categories: red chile, green chile and salsa.

For those who would rather order in than cook this weekend, the 2007 edition of Images magazine reports that several area restaurants also infuse many of their recipes with Pueblo’s famous chiles.

A word of caution should go out to all who attend this weekend’s festival. If you’re a neophyte when it comes to spicy food, the Web site wikihow.com suggests that you try a cold glass of milk to cool off. The milk contains a substance called casein which attracts the capsaicin in peppers and puts the fire out.

After spending the day parading around pepper paradise, visitors can burn off a little steam by signing up for one or more of the three Lowly Frijole athletic events.

All participants who enter the Hot to Trot 5K Fun Run, the 2K Fun Walk or the Kiddie K will a receive a “Hot to Trot” T-shirt. Finishers will be eligible for prizes offered by local merchants.

In addition, there will be several games available throughout the weekend that will keep the entire family chillin’ at the Chile Festival.

For those whose tired feet are burning like roasted chiles, the entertainment tents offer cooling relief as well as a wide variety of musical entertainment.

Former Puebloan Charlene Ligrani has been attending the festival for years.

“I love the festival and its introduction to the fall season,” Ligrani said.

“If I had to pick a favorite part, I don’t know whether it would be the food, the people or the roasting chiles. All I Know is that the chile festival has become a tradition for me. A way of saying goodbye to the summer.”

The Chile Festival kicks will also open the doors on a representation of the great American frontier through the eyes and works of invited artists who live and paint in the West.

At the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center, “Representing the West” is a national, invitational exhibition of traditional representational art in a realist tradition.

It depicts the Western American genre including the diversity of the land and its people. The exhibit contains works in many mediums such as oil, watercolor, acrylic and mixed media.

The Pueblo Convention Center is also showcasing local artists in the 7th Annual Chile and Frijoles Art Show. The show runs through the weekend and is free to the public. Pueblo artists John Mendosa, Ed Posa, Lorene Lovell and Kay Singleton will be featured.
Artist Randy Ford is new to the show this year. His excitement in participating this year was evident in the thoughts he shared about his artwork.

“I want them to fall in love with the individual pieces and the way I paint as opposed to actual details. I compare it to the action of a novelist writing a story and the how the reader’s mind fills in the details that aren’t written,” Ford said.

Ford optimistically added, “I hope the outcome will result in actual sales, but I also hope to sell my name as well. I want people to form a connection between my name and my art as much as one would associate Michelangelo with the Sistine Chapel.”

If you’re not yet convinced that Pueblo’s 13th Annual Chile and Frijole Festival is the place to be this weekend, there’s more.

In contrast to the heat generated from the Chile Festival, the Pueblo Paddlers will offer a cooling spin on events as they take on Pueblo’s new kayak course Sunday. Raftmasters will offer free raft rides, paddlers will display their skills while performing tricks and paper-themed rafts will gamble that they will survive the “Pepper Plunge” down the Arkansas River.

If you’re a racing fanatic as well, you can also participate in the Ducky Dash just by purchasing a numbered duck and racing it against others across the finish line.

Festival hours are Friday, 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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