Chili is not the only thing heating up this winter.
The Milford Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department is hosting a cooking showdown that pits local businesses against each other for a lifesaving cause.
The Battle of the Businesses Cookoff will be at the Milford Fire Station on Saturday, Dec. 7, from 5 – 8 p.m., with the department's gun raffle drawing at 7 p.m.
Milford Fire Chief Jeremy Dinges said he is looking forward to seeing the community get together and have fun alongside local businesses.
“I think it’ll be good for the businesses and good for the community,” he said.
The event will raise money to get the oldest of the department’s two ambulances reboxed. Reboxing is when someone takes the box off the current chassis, updates it, redoes the wiring and puts it on a new chassis.
“This is getting us, fff, a brand new ambulance without having to pay for the cost of a brand new ambulance,” Dinges said.
Dinges said the ambulance’s chassis and transmission were going out, and it is being reboxed by Osage in Missouri now. The MVFD will likely have it back in January or February. He is looking forward to having two ambulances again so squads will be available to respond if multiple calls come in at once.
The department secured a $75,000 state grant to help pay to rebox the ambulance. Through some other grants and the sales from the gun raffle thus far, the MVFD obtained about $58,000 more. It still has about $38,000 more to raise.
“We're trying to do all this by fundraising and grants,” Firefighter Troy Pickerill said. “We're not trying to ask the city for any taxpayer money.”
It will cost $5 to eat at the cookoff, and attendees will get five tickets that they can place in boots near their favorite entries to vote. The winner of each category– chili, soup and pastries– will get a trophy.
To enter the contest, businesses can scan the QR code. They must register by Monday, Dec. 2.
Gun raffle tickets are $40 each and the department will sell up to 500 of them. Eight guns and two gun safes are up for grabs. Buy a ticket by contacting a member of the fire department or messaging the Milford Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department’s Facebook page.
“We just thank the community and surrounding communities for people that are helping with fundraising, buying tickets and coming to our events,” Pickerill said. “It's just a huge help to raise money to make this project successful.”
Cassandra Dinges, one of the event organizers, said she is excited to see the town show up for the fire department. It hopes to make the cookoff an annual event.
