RDO wins 2016 Cattle Call Chili Cook-off

The 2016 Cattle Call Chili Cook-off on Saturday has a new champion – one who’s participating for the first time.

Brawley RDO Water Buddies took the first place trophy and a one thousand dollar check at Saturday’s 31st Chili Cookoff. The Brawley Chamber of Commerce organized the event as part of the week long cattle call festival. Next week there will be a cowboy poetry night and a Mariachi night as the family fun continues. It will end on Saturday with the traditional cattle call parade.

Brawley RDO Water Buddies team captain Ernesto Beltran said it’s the first time they enter the competition. “When we decided to join this event we thought, okay, it’s going to be one of those team building events. But then, one of our core values is play to win. So we said, okay, let’s go full throttle and let’s go for it. So it was pretty much a team effort,” Beltran said.

Cattle Call will also have a Monday night mixer, a cow-belle barbeque on Thursday and a Kiwanis pancake breakfast early Saturday morning.