ON-AIR SEGMENT: Jeremiah Papineau talks 26th annual North Country Chili Cook Off

JEFFERSON, LEWIS & ST. LAWRENCE COUNTIES- 2025 marks the 26th annual North Country Chili Cook Off. 

“We’re excited to be back again for what has become a new tradition with this hybrid format for the cook-off,” said Jeremiah S. Papineau, Director of Communications and Foundation Director for the VTC.

The Chili Cook Off serves as a traditional and crucial fundraiser for the Volunteer Transportation Center. 

“We’ve had a great response to us marrying the restaurant-to-restaurant format we offered during the COVID-19 pandemic with our traditional in-person event. It’s been extremely successful for this fun community event and crucial fundraiser,” Papineau added.

Be sure to listen to part one of our on-air coverage, with Mr. Papineau, from Thursday, February 6, 2025:

The North Country Chili Cook-Off has historically been a one-day event at the Dulles State Office Building, held on the first Saturday in February.

However, as Mr. Papineau stated, the event was modified during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 to focus on hosting a month-long competition among participating restaurants and businesses in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence Counties throughout February.

That format repeated in 2022, while large gatherings were still frowned upon, and, in 2023, the VTC merged the two formats, with nearly 30 restaurants in the tri-county area participating and 17 teams competing at the Dulles State Office Building.

The 'Chili Crawl' format, or otherwisae known as the restaurant-to-restaurant format, kicked-off on February 1 and runs through February 19. Participating restaurants and businesses will make available samples of their chili entries during regular hours of operation during that time and the public will be able to vote for their favorite entries.

***See the full list of participating restaurants.

The entry with the most votes will receive a plaque denoting them winner of the People’s Choice Award for the tri-county competition.

In addition, participating locations will again be able to compete for the Top Fundraiser Award by collecting donations for the Volunteer Transportation Center Foundation.

The participating team with the highest amount raised will receive this special recognition.

Winners of both awards will be recognized at the in-person event at the Dulles State Office Building on Saturday, Feb. 22.

For more on the North Country Chili Cook Off, check out Volunteer Transportation Center.org.

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