The stirring, simmering and marinating is already underway.
The chili planning is heating up and on Saturday it reaches habanero levels when Studio 2880 opens the gates on this year's Spring Arts Bazaar.
The central feature of each bazaar is the community chili cook-off where teams of community partners vie for votes, competing with their bubbling cauldrons of succulent stew. The MLA team of Mike Morris and Shirley Bond are defending their title against 10 other congenial crucibles.
It is the biggest turnout of teams in several years.
"The level of interest is really high this year, so we are definitely in for some high-quality chili," said Community Arts Council project co-ordinator Lisa Redpath, the chief cook in the Spring Arts Bazaar kitchen. "We have more teams and we also have several new teams. Theatre North West is in this year, the Downtown Rotary Club has a chili team, and The Citizen is putting in a team.
"Returning teams this year include the BCNE, Huble Homestead, the Public Library, Pattison Broadcast Group, CFIS the community radio station, the Prince George Potters Guild, the Community Arts Council's board of directors is putting in their own team, and of course Mike and Shirley will be back wearing the crown."
CFIS missed winning last year's title by only a few votes, said Redpath, and as on-site residents at the Studio 2880 complex she has overheard them gearing up for battle.
She has also been hearing the heated debate about recipes to try among the CAC board members.
"Roy Spooner is leading the CAC team and I seriously could listen to him talk food all day. He really knows what he's doing, and he loves to create with food, so I can't wait to see what he and the board come up with this year," she said.
The Canadian Homebuilders Association is a new partner this year. They contributed financially to provide the ground beef and some of the base ingredients all competitors will have available to them, in addition to the special concoctions teams whip up in the morning or prepare in advance before the action gets underway.
The public does their part by purchasing an original handmade bowl from the Prince George Potters Guild. Along with the bowl comes 12 tickets. People take tickets to the chili stations they like, one ticket for each one or you can give some a skip and others a second tasting. Each time you take a ticket to one of the chili teams, they put a dollop of their chili in your bowl. Each bowl also comes with a ballot, and at the end of the tasting everyone can vote for their favourite.
"We sold 500 bowls last year, with nine chili teams. With the extra chili teams coming on board, we set a goal this year of 700 bowls," said Redpath. "The potters really went to work this year. They keep careful tabs on what speaks to the public, what glazes and shapes do the best, and they focus on those things, so you are going to get something special even before you go around and eat your face off at the chili stations."
The event is so much more than chili. There is also what Redpath called "a record number of individual artists and community organizations" that will line the Studio 2880 grounds selling their wares and providing whatever information they are communicating. The resident associations and guilds of the Community Arts Council will also throw open their doors like everyone's open house held at the same time - potters and weavers and painters and wood turners, etc.
"It's a great day for all of them to show off their facilities, and the anchor of that is the potters with their big 'seconds sale' they do at this event each year," Redpath explained. "This was an event started by the P.G. Potters Guild in the first place and they are a big part of how it operates today. But it really does take a village, and we have so much art and so much support within that community - it makes the Spring Arts Bazaar one of the best events you could ever go to on a Prince George Saturday afternoon."
The Cold Snap Music Festival also puts their stamp on the event.
Even Redpath is not privy to the lineup of musicians and other performers the festival organizers have compiled, but each year the music is a highlight of the proceedings.
"Even when it was pouring rain a few years ago, we still sold several hundred bowls, people were happy to sit around and eat chili in the rain and listen to all the music and look over the art anyway. But our forecast this year is for lovely weather," she said.
This is the 41s annual edition of this event. It runs Saturday from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. The chili tournament runs 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
