91.7 WMSE | Events

The 8th Annual Chili Contest, Hands Down Milwaukee's Biggest and Best, Raised $39,000 From Over 3000 Attendees

 

Over 3000 Milwaukeeans attended our Rockabilly Chili Contest on Sunday, March 7th, further cementing WMSE as THE local community powerhouse at the center of the city’s artistic, and now food-related, scenes. This year’s event drew over 1000 more attendees that the previous year, making The WMSE Rockabilly Chili Contest Milwaukee’s best, and by far, the city’s biggest and most creatively unique.

 

The event also brought great visibility to MSOE’s Kern Center – a beautifully designed and fully functional multi-purpose facility. Tom Crawford (Station Manager) really took pride in this. “The station has become synonymous with great music and great food, but we also take great pride in being the radio voice for the Milwaukee School of Engineering. It feels great to be able to use our premier community-focused fundraiser to show off such an amazing facility.”

Contest Champions:
Best Meat Chili - Hinterland Erie Street Gastopub
Best Vegetarian Chili - Riverwest Coop (2nd straight year)
Best Table Presentation & Display - Brewed Cafe
Best Heat - McBob’s Pub & Grill.

 

Here's what Ryan (Promotions Director) had to say: “We were blown away at this year’s massive growth, but we were prepared because we have the best army of volunteers any non-profit organization could ask for. With only four full-time staff members, we rely a ton on our core volunteers. They came through big time. The event literally couldn’t happen on this scale without them.”

 

New to this year’s event was WMSE’s Fist Full of Fire Hot Sauce. Jason Mohr (Development Director) was the mastermind behind the sauce, “If you looked around the room, you noticed that 95% of the participating restaurants were local establishments. We wanted to keep that local tradition when creating our own brand of hot sauce, so we partnered with Riverwest-based MBF Sauces. They nailed it! They get what we’re all about so were able to accurately create a flavor and heat level that represented the station – a lot of flavor with a little bit of kick. Something that bites, but not too hard, and a sauce that at the very least is colorful and interesting. Listen to the station for a week and you’ll understand the comparison.”

 

Finally, we were able to help collect overfilling boxes of non-perishable food items for the Hunger Task Force. Dori Zori (Underwriting Director) was really stoked about this.“It’s always great to share the support the community shows us. People left our event overstuffed. Hopefully we helped those in need who have a hard time even getting one decent meal a day.”

Thanks so much to EVERYONE who made the event possible - YOU the listener/supporter and all of the following businesses below. Amazing!

Sponsorship Provided By:
The Milwaukee Ale House
MSOE
AV Club Milwaukee
Clark Graphics

Participating Restaurants:
- AJ Bombers
- Ball 'N Biscut Catering
- Baja Grill
- Bar Louie
- Beans & Barley
- The Brat House
- Brewed Café
- Cafe Lulu
- Comet Cafe
- Durango BBQ & Grill
- Flannery's
- G-Daddy's BBC
- Good Harvest Market
- Hector's On Delaware
- Hinterland Erie Street Gastropub
- Horny Goat Hideaway
- Hotch-a-do
- The Irish Pub
- Iron Horse Hotel
- Karma Bar & Grill
- Koppa's Fulbeli Deli
- Maxie's Southern Comfort
- McBob's Pub & Grill
- McGillycuddy's Bar & Grill
- Milwaukee Ale House
- Molly Cool's Seafood Tavern
- Motor (Harley Museum)
- The National
- Nessun Dorma
- O'Keffe's House of Hamburg
- Old German Beer Hall
- Omega Restaurant
- Outpost Natural Foods
- Palms Bistro & Bar
- Palomino
- PJ's Original Subs & Clubs
- Riptide Seafood Bar & Grill
- Riverfront Pizzeria Bar & Grill
- Riverwest Coop
- Roots Restaurant & Cellar
- Solly's Grille
- Soups On!
- Stack'd Burger Bar
- Streetza Pizza
- Times Square Bistro & Pizzeria
- TLC Soup Co.
- Fred Usinger, Inc.
- The Wicked Hop