TEQUESTA, Fla. — Saturday, the Tequesta Chili Cook-Off will honor our war heroes and Gold Star families with a military flyover, pipes and drums, and an awards ceremony.
“It's a chili cook off beer tasting, all-inclusive event, but it's really about our veterans on Veterans Day this year for the first time ever, which is absolutely amazing,” said Capt. Dave McGovern of Tequesta Fire Rescue.
NFL legend "Broadway" Joe Namath will kick off the veterans ceremony.
“Joe Namath is going to be there. He's going to invite all the veterans that we're going to be honoring down to their location. And his foundation made a massive donation this year, which has given us the opportunity to allow the first 800 veterans free into our event, which is amazing. We've never done this before. So it's really really cool,” said McGovern.
Fire departments from all over South Florida will be competing to win best chili and people’s choice.
“32 teams will be competing this year. We're so excited,” McGovern said.
Some of the judges are going to be WPTV First Alert Weather chief meteorologist Steve Weagle, anchor Janny Rodriguez, and T.A. Walker.
Tickets cost $30 in advance and $35 at the gate. 100% of the proceeds benefit five veterans charities: Warriors Renewal Coalition, Operation 300, Southeast Florida Honor Flight, Tequesta Friends of Public Safety, Inc., and Wounded Veterans Relief Fund.
You may see the Tequesta Fire Rescue Friday morning conducting a boot drive to increase donations for those five veterans organizations.