Manchester Co-Op Preschool Chili Cookoff and Auction deemed a success!

Eight local cooks took part in this year’s inaugural attempt at bringing back the much-missed Chili Cookoff, and took great pride in their amazing offerings. Photos courtesy of Manchester Co-Op Preschool.

On Saturday, April 30, the Manchester Co-Op Preschool held its annual auction, which is the preschool’s major fund-raiser each year. This year, the preschool decided to also host a Chili Cook-Off, which was seen as a way to add fun to the event and bring in new bidders for the plethora of donated items that were part of the silent and live auctions that night.

Event chair Amber Burkhardt-Sidebottom said that the Chili Cook-Off was “super fun,” and helped the co-op save at least $400 on food purchases for attendees, along with bringing people from the community together with co-op families.

“I think we brought in people who wouldn’t normally have come to the auction,” she said, “but it seemed that people either came for the chili or the auction; there didn’t seem to be that much cross-over.”

The overall profit of nearly $7,000 helps fund the co-op’s academic offerings for the coming year.

“I think we will do it again next year, but we are thinking of moving it to November,” Burkhardt-Sidebottom said.

“We had so many awesome community contributions,” she added. “We had excellent items for the auction, and the chili smelled and tasted amazing!”

Auctioneers at the live auction helped raise nearly $7,000 for the preschool’s academic programming.

Generous portions of chili helped prime the appetites and pocketbooks of those attending the Manchester Co-Op Preschool’s recent fund-raising auction.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.