 By Georgeann "Peppers" Peters
In the very early 1980's in Diane Runyon's backyard in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, a few Texans competed in a friendly chili competition and founded what was to become the Texas Society of the Virgin Islands Annual Chili Cook-off.
It was determined that this was a great way to give back to their adopted homeland. The interest in helping the Queen Home for the Aged and other non-profit organizations led it to a public event. The first public cook-off was held on an east end beach at For The Bird’s, a restaurant owned and operated by a Texan. But the event was becoming more popular than the beach there could handle drawing more than 200 people.
In 1988, the event moved to Magen’s Bay beach but due to the overwhelming public response of 500+ spectators/chili lovers, the organizers were told not to come back…ever. The University of the Virgin Islands west end beach, John Brewer aka Brewer’s Beach, became the location of the Texas Society of the Virgin Islands Annual Chili Cook-Off in 1988 and remained there until 1994. Every August, Chiliheads with awesome showmanship teams came by boats from Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands to compete. At the Chili Appreciation Society International, Inc., (CASI)’s 1994 Great Peppers meeting, the Virgin Pod (aka the Texas Society of the Virgin Islands) was seeded..
Sapphire Beach Resort gave us a new home from 1995 until 2002. Sapphire Beach Resort and Marina offered use of the resort for the 1995 event which was the weekend of September 15th. A tropical storm warning was put in effect on Friday evening and the event was postponed. Hurricane Marilyn hit the island with winds over 200 miles per hour and removed 90% of the roofs of buildings. Many of the cooks used the plywood from their booths to board up their homes, and after the storm passed, used their chili pots to boil water, feed their homeless neighbors, bring water up from the cistern and do laundry. There was no electricity for months. The postponed chili cook-off was held in November and, for whatever reason, made the most money in its history, $30,000.00 given to the charitable organizations in one afternoon.
For the next nine years, the Virgin Pod’s annual chili cook-off was held in September and a new slogan was born, “Come Cook If You Dare”! In 2003, the cook-off moved to Bolongo Beach Resort and a tropical storm formed on top of the island sending a deluge of rain that did not dampen the spirits of the cooks or the crowd which had grown to 3,000 plus spectators/chili tasters over twenty years.
In 2008, we moved back to Brewer's Beach to handle the increasing crowds which has been now determined to be close to 6,000 people...what could have been a traffic nightmare. But thanks to the cooperation of our community coming together, our police, our University, our volunteers, our beneficiaries, and the always dedicated Chili Cook-Off committee, the event continues to grow and give back to their adopted homeland. The organizations that have benefited from the event are Queen Louise Home for the Aged, St. Thomas Swimming Association, Family Support Network, our local American Red Cross, St. Thomas Rescue, the Virgin Islands Institute of Performing Arts, St. Thomas Rescue, Dial-A-Ride, KidScope, the Family Resource Center, and where an emergency need has been presented, the Texas Society of the Virgin Islands has been there....but we couldn’t have done it without our stars...the chili cooks, the public and the people that volunteer hours and hours of their time to make it happen !
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