WMSE Rockabilly Chili Contest is red hot success
| Published: 03/09/2010 |
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WMSE 91.7FM, the community-powered independent radio station owned and operated by MSOE, raised $39,000 at its 8th Annual Rockabilly Chili Contest, the station's most important yearly fundraiser.
More than 3,000 Milwaukeeans attended the fundraiser, further cementing WMSE as a local community powerhouse at the center of the city's artistic, and now food-related, scenes. This year's event drew an additional 1,000 attendees compared to last year, making the WMSE Rockabilly Chili Contest Milwaukee's best, and by far, the biggest and most creatively unique.
The event also brought great visibility to MSOE's Kern Center--a beautifully designed and fully functional multi-purpose facility. "The station has become synonymous with great music and great food," said WMSE Station Manager Tom Crawford, "but we also take great pride in being the radio voice for Milwaukee School of Engineering. It feels great to be able to use our premiere community-focused fundraiser to show off such an amazing facility."
Rockabilly Chili Contest Winners
Best Meat Chili: Hinterland Erie Street Gastopub
Best Vegetarian Chili: Riverwest Coop
Best Table Presentation & Display: Brewed Café
Best Heat: McBob's Pub & Grill
"We were blown away at this year's massive growth," said Ryan Schleicher, WMSE promotions director, "but we were prepared because we have the best army of volunteers any non-profit organization could ask for. With only four full-time staff members, we rely on our core volunteers. They came through big time. The event couldn't happen on this scale without them."
New to this year's event was WMSE's Fist Full of Fire Hot Sauce. "If you looked around the room, you noticed that 95% of the participating restaurants were local establishments," said Jason Mohr, WMSE development director. "We wanted to keep that local tradition when creating our own brand of hot sauce, so we partnered with Riverwest-based MBF Sauces. They nailed it! They get what we're all about so they were able to accurately create a flavor and heat level that represented the station - a lot of flavor with a little bit of kick. Something that bites, but not too hard, and a sauce that is colorful and interesting. Listen to the station for a week and you'll understand the comparison."
Finally, WMSE was able to help overfill collection boxes with non-perishable food items for the Hunger Task Force. Dori Zori, WMSE underwriting director, explained, "It's always great to share the support the community shows us. People left our event overstuffed. Hopefully we helped those in need."