A rainy day is a good day to soak up some chili and jump into a tank of water. Special Olympics Greater Memphis obliged with its annual Bluff City Fire & Ice Chili Cook-Off & Polar Bear Plunge.
Amari Funches
Gloria Ramsey
The event, held on February 16th at the Pipkin Building, featured 56 chili contestants, says Lisa M. Taylor, executive director of Special Olympics Greater Memphis.
Tim Crosas
Andrew Martin, Noah Burch, and Hunter Stroud
Spencer Owens, Don Taylor, and
Courtney Bradley
Michael Dyer, and Mark Wes
More than 500 people attended, Taylor says. “It was not our biggest one, crowd-wise, due to the weather,” she says.
But, she says, “With the weather being like it was, I think we did excellent.”
Llewyn Coleman
John Lunsford, and
Chance Nester
Hollis Moore
Then there were those people who wanted to get wet. They participated in the Polar Bear Plunge. “We were very lucky to have a break in the weather. They plunged into a pool we set up. We had around 85 people, including the U of M football players and three U of M volleyball players.”
Cody Garbuzinski, Riley Kilgore, and
Evan Michael
But again, she says, “Weather cut the numbers.”
Knuckleheads Chili came in first place in the chili contest, which celebrated its 18th anniversary. This was the 29th Polar Bear Plunge.