At least nine gourmets chefs teams will face off at the third annual Halloween Chili Cookoff at Saturday’s final Farmers Market at South Marina Park, but there’s room for one more entrant.

If you’re interested in joining in the chili-cooking fun, the fee is just $30 and you can download an application here.

The chili cookoff cooking begins at 8:30am, with judging at 11am and tasting beginning at Noon on Saturday, Oct. 31st. Each team is required to provide four gallons of chili for judging and eating.

Tasters are asked to bring non-perishable food donation(s) or a $3.00 cash donation (all proceeds will go to the Des Moines Food Bank). Costumes are encouraged, and there will also be a “Giant Pumpkin Guess” contest.

A record number of entries have been rounded up by your Des Moines Farmers Market personnel and volunteers. DMFM Board President Wayne Corey and event organizer Debra Jackson even guilted, err, encouraged your intrepid Waterland Bloggers to sign up for the ‘pole’ position of this year’s event.

This year’s Chili Cookoff Teams will include:

1. Waterland Blog: Team Captain, Janet Grella
2. Spicy Frogs: Team Captain, Kim Richmond
3. DM Rotary Team 1: Team Captain, Brian Snure
4. DM Rotary Team 2: Team Captain, Lisa Meinecke
5. Team Nutting: Team Captain, Yvonne Nutting
6. 10th Avenue Chili Dogs: Team Captain: Dave Markwell (defending champ)
7. South King County Fire and Rescue Team,  Captain: Assistant Chief Ed Plumlee
8. Chris Kennon & Team
9. Team SOS! (Save our Swimming) Team Captain: Nancy Kuehnoel
10. ??????? it’s not too late to sign up!!!

Prizes are First Place, Second Place, Third Place and People’s Choice.

City Council candidates running for election and re-election have stepped up to judge the gourmet delights from the teams.  Judges include:

• Melissa Ponder, candidate
• Matt Pina, candidate
• Dave Kaplan, re-election
• Anne Farmer, candidate
• Lelant Scott, husband of Carmen Scott, re-election
• Melissa Musser, candidate
• Del Rivero, DMFM Board Member

We understand that bribing an elected, or soon to be elected official by teams is not legal during this contest.

All proceeds of the event will benefit the Des Moines Food Bank.

Executive Chef Freddie Detore II of Emerald Cove Catering will be the “chief chef”at this year’s event. He’s the person that makes sure that temperature of the food is up and that clean cooking practices are being used, etc.

“This satisfies the health department for events like these as they are certified food handlers,” said Debra Jackson, event organizer. “We always have a  local restaurant chef as the official. This year we asked Emerald Cove Catering because they were the ones that supplied our box dinners for the Wednesday night market/concert series. We always try to support our vendors when the opportunity presents itself.”