Some of us couldn’t make it to ZestFest 2007, and our buddy Lars from Csigi Chili Sauce mentioned that he attended a chile pepper festival in his neck of the woods in Pennsylvania. The 12th annual Chile Pepper Festival in Bowers, PA looked like it was a pretty cool event. Here’s an article excerpt about it from The Morning Call:
A fire in the belly
Hot-pepper lovers find the spice of life at Chile Pepper Food Festival.
By Chris Pollock Of the Morning CallHOT PEPPERS for sale at the festival, above, weren’t the only thing making people break out in a sweat. Kate McMahon, 10, of Clarks Summit, at left, douses her head with water to cool off on Saturday, when afternoon highs reached 91 degrees.
JOHN HAAS of East Greenville samples some garlic-infused vinegar served up by Mark Smith of North Wales, who was selling the product of Rolling Hills Farm of Saylorsburg at the Chile Pepper Food Festival in Bowers, Berks County, on Saturday.
On a day when the sun was as hot as a habanero, thousands of folks from far and wide came to the annual Chile Pepper Food Festival in Bowers south of Kutztown Saturday in pursuit of perfect pepper pleasure.
They ate pepper-laced ice cream, pepper fudge and pepper peanut brittle. And some came to test themselves against the best, such as Joe DeLuca of Newton, Mass. DeLuca, a competitive eater, said he wanted to take on the reigning champ of the 2006 jalapeno-eating contest, though DeLuca’s finish in the same competition that year was less than stellar.
Click here to read the rest of the source article from the Morning Call
Lars, perhaps you can fill us in on all the goings-on from this past weekend at the festival. It looked like fun!
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Bowers! If it wasn’t so freakin’ humid, especially on friday! Overall Bowers is just an excellent time! For those that can’t make it to Zest Fest, and live closer to the east coast. Bowers Chile Pepper Festival is definitely a grand old time. It’s always the 2nd weekend of Sept. on Friday and Saturday (Mennonites have no sales on sunday). Friday is slower than saturday with most people at work, so if you can make it on friday, you’d have a better time navigating and checking out all the vendors have to offer. On saturday the chile-heads amass from all over the area. It gets really busy on saturday, but I suppose that that is a part of what makes Bowers such a great ‘hidden gem’.
Late on saturday I was finally able to break away from my booth for a few minutes. I passed by the stand selling Thai food (green curry, chicken satay, and spring rolls!) that looked yummy so I bought some. The previous weekend, I went to a local Thai place and when asked how spicy I wanted my meal on a scale of 1-10, I replied, ‘15 of course!’ The point being, that the Thai food I got at Bowers (where I didn’t ask for any more spice) was MUCH hotter than the 15 I requested at Saen (http://www.saenthaicuisine.com/) the week before!
Afterwards I was a sweaty mess (not just from the Thai food) but felt excellent after the final pack-up and clean-up. Another great time at the Bower’s Chile Pepper Festival!
Check it out next year if you are so inclined!
Comment fired by Lars — September 11, 2007- 10:38 am
Hmmm.. How much is a booth Lars?
Comment fired by Fat Kid Sauces — September 11, 2007- 1:22 pm