A Little Deb’ll Do Ya. Free Spirit. Second Spoon. Hot Pants. Names for your boat? Advertising slogans? Website addresses? Not even close. It’s what they call their chili. These tasty concoctions - along with the likes of Dead Boot and Grapevine Chili - will heat up Camp Ranger on Saturday, October 4th at the Ladies State Chili Championship of Texas. It’s one HOT event!

Now in its 38th year, more than 100 chili and barbeque cooks from all over the state will gather in Blanco to compete and share their top secret recipes with hungry attendees. The public is invited to come judge or just enjoy the good food and fun. Admission is free and all proceeds benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure and their breast cancer awareness and education programs.

The aroma of savory beef, pork, peppers, garlic and spices will float in the air throughout the day as cooks tend their pots for this Tolbert sanctioned event. The top three chili winners automatically qualify to cook at the granddaddy of them all, the Original Terlingua International Cookoff in November.

The chili cookoff is restricted to women, hence the name Ladies State, and this year the men are invited to flex their muscles and strut their stuff in the First Annual Open Barbeque.

Talk about kicking it up a notch.

The main contest, according to the Event Director Susie Higgins of San Marcos, is to find the best tasting chili. “It’s about flavor - not heat,” says Susie, even though she admits to liking a lot of heat in hers. She also went on to say that Ladies State is one of the best cookoffs to judge because, “These ladies are real good cooks. Pros. They have their recipes and techniques down to a science. All of the samples turned in for judging are top notch!”

In addition to the chili and barbeque competitions and sample tastings, there will be a horseshoe tournament, showmanship games, musical entertainment, and fun for the whole family.

Get there early. The fun starts at 11 with the Girly Man Beauty Pageant.

Camp Ranger is located at 2778 Ranch Road 32, Blanco, Texas, three miles east of Highway 281. Admission

is free. The event is presented by KFAN/KEEP Radio, Wick Fowler’s 2-Alarm Chili, Tony Chachere’s famous

seasonings, Wildseed Farms, Bolner’s Fiesta Seasonings, Pioneer Mills, Hyatt Regency Hill County, Tabasco

hot sauce and Lone Star Beer. For more information call Susie Higgins at 512-396-4456 or 512-558-1321, or visit the website at

www.ladiesstate.org.