By Marilyn Miller

“Come join us at the Minden Civic Center for a day filled with delicious chili, friendly competition, and good vibes. Whether you’re a traveling chili cook or a home-cooking chili champ, this event is perfect for you.”

According to Randy Stevenson, chairman of the Minden St. Jude Chili Cook-Off 2026, sign-up for the February 7 event has already begun. “We have 15 teams already signed up, but we are looking for 40,” Stevenson said.

“Even though we will continue to follow CASI rules for cooking chili, we are not a CASI-sanctioned event,” Randy explained. “That means COMPETITION CHILI MUST BE COOKED ON SITE!  All judged chili must be cooked from scratch (raw meat) on site the day of the cookoff. Ground beef for tasting cup chili can be prepared off-site. Please follow all food safety guidelines for prep.”

Teams can go to the Eventbrite page.com to sign up….That’s control click https://www.eventbrite.com/o/minden-st-jude-chili-cook-off.

Set-up and registration will take place from 7 a.m. until 8:30 a.m., with a cook’s meeting scheduled for 9 a.m. Cooking at the Minden St. Jude Chili Cook-off will start at 8 a.m. in front of the Minden Civic Center.  Tasting cups will be sold from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Judging cups are to be turned in at 12 noon. Winners will be announced and prizes given out between 3 and 3:30 p.m.

Entertainment this year will be provided by Mitch Fussell on acoustic guitar, Ben Abshire & MOJO MUSIC, and the “31GR8 Band.”

Title Sponsors for 2026 include Mike’s Hometown Spirits, Minden Family Dental, KBEF Real Country 104.5, Southern Tire and Kyle Towns Services, LLC.

Partner Sponsors include the Wimberly Agency, Passages Hospice, Dixie Overland Construction, Re-Com Services, Freedom Waterworks, Taylormade Logistics, Kepler Creek Outdoors, Edwards Energy, Yocum Law, Smokin’ J’s, Bonsall Signature Homes, Gulf States Services, Louisiana Cat, and Four Star Services.