Local Chili Team Wins a Title At International Championship

Freyburg’s Finest, a chili cook-off team based in Fayette County, won first place in small show at the 2022 CASI – Chili Appreciation Society International – Terlingua International Chili Championship on November 5. Team Captain Nicole Gabler and Head Cook Kathleen Williamson are from Schulenburg. The team’s display featured brightly colored skulls and an ofrenda for Dia de los Muertos. Big draws for spectators included the team’s 12-foot-tall skeleton and cactus hula hoop game.

Freyburg’s Finest dedicated their big win to the memory of Dominik Mendoza, Justin Kornegay, Frankie Filip, and other loved ones who had passed.

Each year on the first Saturday of November, CASI holds the ultimate celebration of Chili. This granddaddy of all chili cook-offs is held at Rancho CASI de los Chisos in Terlingua, Texas. Rancho CASI is located on the North side of Highway 170, eleven miles West of Study Butte and 7 miles East of Lajitas. CASI was the original host for the 1967 Terlingua Chili Championship and continues the tradition.

The four day celebration begins each year on Wednesday before the big weekend and culminates on Saturday with the Terlingua International Chili Championship©. It’s a Texas tradition of epic proportion.

Each year, CASI sanctions nearly 400 domestic and international chili cookoffs as qualifying events for the CASI Terlingua International Chili Championship©, known as TICC. CASI was the original host of the first chili championship in Terlingua in 1967. These sanctioned events raise approximately $1,000,000 annually for the local and national charities that work with the cookoff organizers. This ultimate chili championship is held the first Saturday of November annually at Rancho CASI de los Chisos near Terlingua, Texas. The CASI Championship event is a fundraiser for local Terlingua charities and organizations and funds CASI’s scholarship programs