Union County, Illinois’ annual Pepperfest is quickly become an up-and-coming favorite gathering for chileheads and hot pepper fans throughout the Midwest, with some folks coming from as far as Washington, D.C. and Seattle, Washington. The event for 2011 will be held on September 3rd from 11am – 5pm at Rancho Bella Vista, 827 Vines Rd Cobden, IL.
The festival will have all the Jiménez clan working from sun up until sundown, picking chile peppers, making fresh salsa and homemade jams, jellies and processed chile pepper products, stringing up ristras, giving cooking classes, walking tours of the pepper fields to show folks the many varieties of hot pepper pods in bloom.
Darn Hot Peppers’ Pepperfest 2011 Highlights at a Glance:
• Southwest-style cooking
• Live music featuring Carter and Connelley, plus Wil Maring
• The “Fields of Fire” Walking Tour
• Salsa Limbo “How Hot Can You Go?”
• Save 10% on all purchases at the Darn Hot Peppers Farm Store
• $5.00 admission covers parking and chile pepper tasting
It’s still very much a growing shindig, and festival organizers expect nearly 500 people to visit Pepperfest 2011. I’m planning to attend for the first time this year as it’s only a two and one-half hour drive from my house in the St. Louis, MO metro area. I’ll do my best to report on how the gathering goes, either by photos, videos, or perhaps both!
Pepperfest is within close proximity to not only St. Louis, but also Memphis, Nashville, and Evansville, IN. If you can’t make it, don’t fret; the weekend of September 3rd is the busiest chile pepper/spicy food event weekend of the year, so there’s a decent chance of something happening close by. Check my Calendar of Chilehead Events for more info.
Check out www.darnhotpeppers.com for more information on Pepperfest 2011.
