Enjoy Chili Cook-Off and Support Western Students

Western Wyoming Community College’s (Western’s) Chili Cook-Off is this week! Starting at 11 a.m. Saturday, February 3, Western invites the community up to the Rock Springs campus to enjoy some delicious chili and to support students. During the event, the Student Storehouse will be collecting item and monetary donations, SkillsUSA will have a custom firepit to raffle, Cultural Connections club will be selling s’mores, the ceramic students will have their artwork available for purchase, and more.  

Chili Cook-Off will be held in Western’s Atrium with the largest number of chili participants to date, twenty-four! Those attending will have the chance to sample 15 red and 10 green chilis but only need to try six to vote for People’s Choice. Chili participants this year include: Boschettos, Grillie Wilkerson, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, Tip’s Kitchen, Jack’s Crepes, Brayden and Eric Fagley, Oscar Valdez, Rocket Miner, Emma Granthem, Western President Kim Dale, the Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce, 307 Auto Plaza, Western’s Board of Trustees, Coal Train Coffee Depot, Mike Babcock, Western’s Mustang Central, Western’s SkillsUSA team, ABC Mental Heath Substance Use Services, Street Meats, Whisler Chevrolet, Peggy Larson, Kayla Arnes, and Jelena Frey. 

The community will also be able to support Western students during the event. The Chili Cook-Off is free to the community, but this year Western is asking for donations to the Student Storehouse on campus. A small necessities bank, it is open to all students. During the 2023 calendar year, the Storehouse had 404 visits with February being the busiest month.  

SkillsUSA and the Cultural Connections club will also be holding small fundraisers to support their efforts. Western’s SkillsUSA welding team will be raffling a firepit made by Western welding instructor Jake Mannikko and students. Ticket sales support the SkillsUSA teams as they compete. Cultural Connections club will be selling components to make s’mores during the event. Proceeds will assist the students in continuing general club operations and hosting International Night.   

Ceramic students will also have items they’ve created for sale. Skylee Gomez, a Western art student, said, “Ironically, all of us ceramic students got involved in Chili Cook-Off due to a student government meeting. Once the meeting was over, we were talking with Bart and he mentioned that we should consider making chili bowls for the winners. This has been over a month in the making and now each chili winner will be able to choose one bowl that each of us [artists in the sale] has made! The community will also be able to purchase items from us at the ceramics table. Funds from that will support us as individual artists.” 

Western’s T-Rex Grill (T-Rex) and Bookstore will be open for the event from 11 AM to 2 PM. T-Rex will be serving its entire lineup of drinks, including bottled water, and have limited cinnamon rolls for purchase. The Bookstore will be offering 20% off storewide, excluding textbooks and postage, for the event. 

Community members can win raffle prizes that include a Mustang Athletics basket, Rock Springs Chamber bucks, and artisan crafted bowls by Instructor of Ceramics/3D Design Bart Fetz. Additional tickets will be given for having Western’s Mustang Connections App, Storehouse donations, and being a Wellness Challenge participant. 

After Chili Cook-Off head down to Rushmore Gym for the women’s and men’s homecoming basketball games!  

For inquiries or questions regarding the Chili Cook-Off, contact Mikayla Wonnacott by email at  mwonnacott@westernwyoming.edu or call 307-382-1858.