MEL’s Chili Cook Off Canceled

For fourteen years the annual Chili Cook Off has been an important fund-raiser for the library. It started as a small block party and grew into one of our community’s largest get-togethers.

The 2015 cook off is scheduled for a week from this Sunday. The event committee has been hard at work for weeks, just as in years past. But something unusual is happening. Ticket sales are down a lot from past years, ad sales for the printed program are down, and the number of people volunteering to cook chili is down.

Over the past few days, the committee and the board have had several discussions about what could be causing these downturns and whether we could reverse them before the cook off date. We’ve also asked a number of MEL members for their input. Several theories have been suggested.

But regardless of the possible causes, it’s pretty clear that this year’s cook off would not be a financial success. So the MEL Board has decided to cancel the event. We would like to thank the CCO committee members, the volunteers who agreed to help out at the event and the people who purchased tickets for it. If you bought a ticket and would like a refund, please stop by the library (beginning next Monday).

We want to reassure our members that the library is on sound financial footing, even without the income that the cook off may have provided. As you know, MEL has a number of other fund-raising events throughout the year, and we appreciate your strong support for them. We hope you will continue to participate in our monthly wine tastings, the weekly house and garden tours, our musical events, our monthly MEL Nights, and the upcoming artist studio tour.

Dan Karnes, President
On behalf of the Board

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MEL’s Chili Cook Off Canceled

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