An estimated 12,000 to 14,000 pepper fans came out for something hot and spicy at the 20th annual Chile Pepper Food Festival in Bowers on Sept. 11 and 12.
“If you like peppers, it’s the place to be,” said Candace Scheirer of Reading who brought her 4-year-old Great Dane, Gulliver, to the first day of the event, Friday.
“What’s not to like,” added her friend, Joanna Blessing of Fleetwood,
They enjoyed everything about the Chile Pepper Food Festival.
“The jams are amazing, so good,” said Sheirer, who was seen dancing with her Great Dane.
“Unlimited tastings,” said Blessing. “There’s something different for everybody.”
A steady stream of people strolled through Bowers Park on the festival’s first day, Friday afternoon, listening to live music and tasting spicy food, hot sauces and salsa.
“The turnout today has been fabulous. We grow every year,” said Chris Markey of Fleetwood, festival co-founder and organizer with his wife Toni Meck-Markey, John Bixler and his wife Denise from Pricetown. Markey thanked them all, as well as the James Weaver family, for their efforts to put the festival together.
This year’s event boasts more than 100 vendors, all related to peppers.
“We have a lot of new vendors and we’re really excited to put this production on for the people,” said Bixler. “We have hot margarita mix, some new vendors and the Reading 120 bike race coming through, that’s new and exciting.”
Bixler said the international cycling race rode past the festival on Saturday. “It’s fun to see and a new adventure… it just adds to whole environment.”
Happy to be celebrating the festival’s 20th anniversary, Bixler said, “Each year it grows. More and more people are interested, we get more and more vendors interested in coming out and the enthusiasm that we get from people that visit us.”
“It’s probably beyond our dreams to have such a successful festival in Berks County,” said Markey. “The people are great. The community is involved.”
Markey said the festival supports the Boy Scouts, Lions Club, and James and Elma Weaver’s Meadow View Farm in Bowers which hosts horse drawn wagon excursions to the farm during the two-day festival.
Bixler said the purpose of the festival is for local and regional vendors from up and down the East Coast to come out and share their products.
Why peppers?”It started out as a whim,” said Bixler. “More and more people are looking for something in their diet and food that is spicy. Spicy food is really starting to catching on.”
“It’s been a way to educate the public to the diverse tongues of the world,” said Markey.
The festival began with a conversation between Markey and James Weaver during a Lions event held at Bowers Park more than 20 years ago.
“We’ve been family ever since. It’s just been a tremendous part of my life to be involved (in the festival),” said Markey.
Visitors had the opportunity to taste a variety of spicy food, hot sauces, drinks and salsa, including salsa from Topton. Jim DeLong and Chris Grace of DeGra’s Salsa from Topton offered tastings of their homemade salsa, which they make and sell only for the Chile Pepper Food Festival.
“I think it’s a great thing for the local community. It’s just great for people to come from around the Berks County community,” said DeLong about the festival. “Peppers are great; they’re great for you. I love to see people burn and smile.”
DeLong said they make the salsa for fun and for the enjoyment of seeing the joy on people’s faces.
New Jerusalem Boy Scout Troop 585 Scout Master Art Kayhart poured samples of hot lemonade.
“Goes in ice cold, warms you up all the way down,” said Kayhart.
The scouts made the freshly squeezed lemonade and added a spice called Frost by CaJohns Fiery Foods to give the lemonade a little bite. To help cool the after burn, the scouts also sold regular lemonade for which proceeds go back to the scouts. The troop also helps to keep Bowers Park clean.
“I like the hot food and I like seeing the kids have a blast working. We try to keep the place clean that way when people come in, their first impression is a clean park,” said Kayhart.
The festival included an Amateur Salsa Contest on Friday and a Jalapeno Eating Contest on Saturday.
Judges of the Amateur Salsa Contest were Kat Walsh from Bigfat’s Hot Sauce in Chicago, Rick Seaby from Rick’s Ragin’ Sauces and Seasonings in Maryland, Bill Biery of Twisted Twins Salsa Company in Northampton and Tony Brochu from Two-Can Catering in Robesonia.
“I am very excited,” said Walsh, who judged for the fifth year. “It’s one of the highlights for me because I love to try different people’s concoctions and see what they can come up with.”
There were 17 contestants. Winners of the Amateur Salsa Contest were first place Erik Eppler of Bethlehem, second place Kevin Duchala of Blandon and third place Mark Roman of New Jersey.
Butch Imhoff of the Acoustic Roadshow provided a wide variety of live entertainment throughout the festival.
“Every year I bring up a different line of people,” said Imhoff. “We try to mix it up.”
This year’s entertainment included a celtic band, blues duo, rockers, Texas swing band, guitar player, country band and comedy singer, he said.
“We’re basically atmosphere,” he said. “For the Chile Pepper Food Festival we try to provide people with different varieties, so every 30 minutes we have a different act playing a different style of music.”
His favorite part of the festival is eating.
“You get to sample all these different vendors that have their own sauces and salsa. This is just the neatest festival around. We’ve been part of it for 15, 16 years. We’ve had a lot of fun doing it.”
Performances on Sept. 11 included Mo7s of reading and The Martin Sisters Band from Lebanon County.
“People have a lot of good memories about this place, maybe a song they heard or the food they ate,” said Imhoff. “They put on quite a show here and we’re just glad to be part of it.”