The Women’s Club of Coconut Creek will host its annual Chili Cook-Off on Saturday, Nov. 14, during the city’s Fall Harvest Festival at Sabal Pines Park, 5005 NW 39th Ave.
Five local restaurants and food businesses will compete: Backa Yaad Cooking, Chef Secret, Papamigos, Texas Roadhouse and World of Beer Bar & Kitchen. Proceeds support the club’s scholarship and teacher grant fund.
Festival visitors can sample each chili and vote by buying a $20 tasting passport. The passport includes five samples, cornbread, water and a ballot. Public tasting and voting runs from 2:30 to 5 p.m. The top vote-getter wins the Creek’s Choice Award. Alexis Martinez, a culinary arts instructor at Atlantic Technical College and High School, will pick a separate Chef’s Choice Award.
The event runs alongside the club’s Handicraft Market. Club president Laura McDermott Matheric said the cook-off gives neighbors a way to support local businesses while investing in students and teachers.
In the 2025-26 club year, the group awarded $5,000 in student scholarships and $2,200 in teacher grants, and it paid off outstanding student lunch debt in Coconut Creek public schools. Since its founding, the club says it has awarded $357,850 in scholarships to 472 students pursuing college or trade education.
Passports can be bought in advance through the event registration page, or at the festival while supplies last, with cashless payment accepted. Restaurants interested in competing can email President@WomensClubCoconutCreek.com.
