15th Annual Chile Pepper Food Festival
This outdoor chile show is held in Bowers, PA, which is towards the southeastern part of PA near Allentown. I went to this event 2 years ago amidst a tropical storm that was once a hurricane. It wasn’t the smartest move I have ever made since it was over a 3 hour drive for me to get there. I was bored, and I took off not knowing much about the event. Despite the mud, large puddles, and many vendors packing up because of collapsing tents full of water, I still thought it was bigger than I had anticipated. People were still milling around and some vendors happily greeted everyone.
I got soaked, but I walked away with some habaneros I had never seen before- mustard and cappuccino, plus a few products I reviewed for tastethefear.com. If you want to read what I wrote about last time, then check this out: CLICK ME
I am excited to make the journey once again. The show is Friday and Saturday, different than most shows that are Friday-Sunday or just Saturday and Sunday. I do not plan on staying both days, but you never know. Brian and Marilyn Meagher from the www.hotsaucedaily.com and Doug Spiros from www.PeppersandMore will be there on Saturday. Why not go Saturday instead of Friday? Well, I am entering the salsa contest which kicks off at 2pm Friday. 30 people enter this one, and I am curious to see how my salsa stacks up to the rest. I won at the Grillmasters Show in Columbus in May, but there were only 4 entries. So this is sure to be a true test. I have no plans to go professional even if I take first place. This batch has plenty of red habs, to give the judges a little to ponder while tasting. 😈
I was not aware the first time I went that there is a pepper field excursion throughout the day. Maybe it was under water last time. I will do some filming if it seems worthy to do so. There is a jalapeno pepper eating contest on Saturday at 4pm, for those that think they have what it takes to compete. All I remember was how fast it was, maybe 1-2 minutes long. Not a pretty site for those with tender tummies.
If you are interested please check out their website . I know Torchbearer Sauces, Heartbreaking Dawns, and Twisted Twin Salsa have all told me they will be in attendance. I hope it is a big vendor turnout. It should be fun.
The Chile Pepper Food Festival
William Delong Park
233 Bowers Rd Bowers Pa 19511
Friday September 10th, 2010
Saturday September 11th, 2010
www.pepperfestival.com
The video doesn’t work for me. :rotflmfao:
I am going to hit the road about 8am-ish. It is about a 3 hour trip plus. Looking forward to seeing some of the familiar faces, and I also learned last night, the good people at Insane Chicken will be there. It is an opportunity to finally meet them. Later folks!
Better step on it, you don’t want your anchovy salsa to turn…lol
I revisited the article you wrote 2 years ago on ttf, I don’t remember you having such a filthy mouth. That was the funniest thing I’ve ever read…..lmfao
I didn’t find anything funny about it. I thought it was totally uncalled for and very childish on the part of whomever changed the original post.
Agreed but I’m a sucker for childish, immature, juvenile pranks.
:titanic:
I see the original post has been put back up over at TTF.
I am not sure why it was changed, sorry if anyone who wanted to get info about the show, and did not get it from the link. I did not see what was there, but I am sure it was there as a joke. At least I hope so. TTF was some of the best times I have had doing what I do, and I would love to share links from time to time with them if the opportunity seems to warrant it. Anyone looking to see how much fun we had a couple of years ago, can just pick any old post or the No Fear Zone and read away. It was so crazt at times, if you refreshed the page you had to spend a good 15 minutes trying to catch up. Ahh the memories. :racecar: :pirate: :toilet:
2,934 Responses to “The “No Fear Zone”…June 2008”
2,531 Responses to “The “No Fear Zone”…July 2008”
2,258 Responses to “The “No Fear Zone”…August 2008”
I remember months where there were over 4000 posts in the NFZ alone.
As for this year’s show, it was HUGE! The crowd was as big if not bigger than any show I have attended outside of the Fiery Food Show, but it is hard to gauge it because it is outside. I was told there were 70 vendors, many serving food, so I guess that should be factored in. Still, plenty of spicy type of vendors. The trip to the pepper fields is free along with a $2 donation to get into the show. Parking is also free.
Going to the pepper fields is done by horse drawn carriage by the Mennonites who run the farm. It is about a 15 minute journey, by car its about 5 minutes, maybe less. It is a 1/4 to 1/2 of a mile up the road from the show. The fields are arranged in no special order as far as I can figure out, but they seem to have every hot pepper known to man. I seeked out the Trinidad Scorpions, and filled a hefty bag with $7 worth. It is $2.50/ pound, a bargain and a half. I have some video of that and a little from the show. Plus I got 2 hot sauce makers to try the scorpion for me on video- Johnny from Heartbreaking Dawns and Vid from Torchbearer Sauces. I think Vid nearly had a panic attack. I can’t wait to share that footage. Vid filled my tasting spoon with his new Rapture sauce which contains the scorpion, jolokia and habs. It was his version of revenge. It was plenty hot, but I avoided any damage until I got home. :toilet: Then the sauce took me to some different kind of burn.
I don’t know what I will do with all those peppers, but I would love to be able to keep them for Open Fields, but not sure they will last that long unless I freeze them. Maybe on the plane ride, they would be confiscated and in the back of the plane they would not hold with the heat of the plane. 😐
I had a fun time at the show, and thanks to Johnny for letting me take the extra bed in his hotel room. I got to hang with Captain Thom and his first mate, Brian and Marilyn of http://www.HotSauceDaily.com and Johnny Saturday after the show over dinner. I met some familiar faces from 2 years ago with Robb from Millers Mustard and the Biery twins from Twisted Twin Salsa who had some awesome deep fried ice cream at their booth. Of course, Torchbearer who keep growing with their product line. No end in sight to their creativity. Johnny too is got his fair share of growth since meeting him and Nicole at the North Market in February. He was starting to sell out as I said my goodbyes at 1pm. Great show for the chileheads, but a better show for the vendors who were making serious bucks from an eager crowd. This is a serious contender for big time spicy events, and if you do not jump on the horse drawn carriage it will leave without you. Speaking to the show administrator, there is only so much more expansion they can do. I think it needs a contest or two to get the crowd even more enthused than the music provided. Can anyone say Defcon Deathmatch?
Anyway, look for some videos soon from this event this week.
true dat, and we used to have contests tp reach those marks.
LOL, I could say so much right now, but I think I’ll let it slide……. Hudd you should look in the mirror once in awhile.
(Okay so I said one thing) Any new jobs lately or are you living off my tax dollar still? (Okay I said two things I’ll stop now)
We’ll be there next year, not to worry. Having a regular 9-5 job, with The Wife Unit working nights, sometime puts a damper on things.