QC fire departments to face off in chili cook-off

On Saturday, Sept. 23 in Bettendorf, career fire departments around the area and several volunteer ones will face off in the 2nd-annual Quad Cities Firefighter Chili Cook Off.

Presented by Navigate Realty, this event brings together firefighters for a safe, fun, and “healthy” competition with all proceeds benefitting the Bettendorf Firefighters Benevolent Fund. For $10, chili lovers can sample every fire department’s recipe and vote for the winner.

Last year, the People’s Choice winner was Rock Island Fire Department. This year, there will be an esteemed panel of celebrity judges (who will choose their own winner) including:

• Reggie Freeman, East Moline Mayor
• Bob Gallagher, Bettendorf Mayor
• Mike Matson, Davenport Mayor
• Mike Thoms, Rock Island Mayor
• Decker Ploehn, Bettendorf City Administrator
• Pat Angerer, Former Iowa Hawkeye/Indianapolis Colts Player
• Pat “The Croatian Sensation” Miletich, Mixed Martial Artist
• Westend Wang, Social Media Star
• Dave Levora, Radio Personality & Host of “Brewed TV”
• David Bohlman, Anchor of “Good Morning Quad Cities” on WQAD
• Dave Heller, Quad Cities River Bandits Owner
• Malik Duncan, Quad City Steamwheelers Player
• Nate Sheets, Quad City Steamwheelers Player
• Dillion Fournier, Quad City Storm Player

Other features of this annual event include performances from the talented students at the QC Rock Academy, a special beer created by Adventurous Brewing in Bettendorf, ice cream and more, The Sept, 23rd event will be 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Isle of Capri Covered Parking Lot, 1609 State St., Bettendorf (to the right of the bridge off State Street).

The Bettendorf Firefighters Benevolent Fund was established by a group of dedicated Bettendorf firefighters and their families, to support the health and welfare of the Bettendorf firefighter and first responder community as well as others throughout the Quad Cities.

The Bettendorf Firefighters Benevolent Fund provides financial, physical, and emotional assistance to firefighters and fellow first responders and their families in times of need.

They work with other non-profits to raise money locally and nationally for charitable contributions through events like the Firefighter Chili Cook Off and the ever-popular Pancake Breakfast. The Sept. 23 proceeds will be used to help benevolent funds for many area fire departments.

Based on Florida fundraiser

The owner of Navigate Realty, Jenny Staub, has a very special place in her heart for the Chili Cook Off. Her husband, Tim Staub, is a 26-year veteran of the Bettendorf Fire Department.

Jenny and Tim co-created this event last year after attending the Sarasota Firefighter Chili Cook Off in 2021 and realizing this would be an incredible event for the Quad Cities. This October is the 23rd year for the Sarasota, Fla. event.

“They get about 5,000 people that attend the event every year and we went to it a couple of years ago and we were blown away and my husband and I said, we’ve got to bring this back to the Quad Cities,” Jenny said recently, noting Sarasota closes down an entire city block for it.

For the QC event, each department makes about 20 to 30 gallons of chili that has to be cooked in a commercial kitchen. “It has to be inspected by the health department and we have to have a license for each booth,” Jenny said. “So yeah, like it’s not just a crock pot of chili, it’s like a big deal.”

They learned a lot for last year’s inaugural event from Sarasota, she said.

“They taught us everything as far as like here’s the mistakes we made,” Jenny said. “We really learned a lot from them and then brought it back here and last year was the first year and we’re like, I can’t believe we pulled it off.”

The Benevolent Fund helps firefighters pay for physical or mental issues that arise. Tim Staub plans to retire next year at age 55, after 27 years of service and the fire department doesn’t continue their health insurance. Jenny said it will cost them about $1,500 a month to stay on the city’s plan.

“They get a pension every month. But if you take $1,500 a month out of that pension, it’s not a lot to live on,” she said. “It’s kind of shocking when you think that somebody in the military, which they should, but if we’ve got somebody who served 20 years in the military and they get health coverage for the rest of their life, why are our firefighters not getting that?”

No goal for five-alarm chili

The fire departments are not all trying to make the hottest chili, Jenny said.

“It was an absolute full range last year and that was what was really cool to me,” she said. “Everybody was very intense about it because what was really funny, too, was the city of Riverdale. Their department got second place for the People’s Choice.

“And because they were confident that theirs was the best, their city Facebook page — because I actually live in the city of Riverdale, so they are already blasting it saying, ‘All right, everybody in the city of Riverdale, we need you to show up because we need you to vote for us this year’,” Jenny said. “We’re taking that trophy home. The smack talk is amazing, which I love.”

She’s impressed with everyone that shows up to support firefighters.

“It is so much fun. And honestly, at least for me and maybe it’s because I’m the wife of a firefighter, it was very emotional,” Jenny said. “It was emotional for me being at the one in Sarasota, and then to be at the one here last year with the color guard.

“I start to get choked up now even just thinking about it because it, and to see the community say, yeah, we’re coming out today for a couple of hours and we’re gonna do this with these firefighters. It was really pretty beautiful to me,” she said.

Navigate is dedicated to giving back to the community through projects like helping to create and sponsor Firefighters Chili Cook Off, donation drives for Humility Homes & Services as well as the annual Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Mississippi Valley Over the Edge event (which was this past weekend).

Navigate just got involved with Humility Homes this past June.

“We as a brokerage were blown away by what they are doing to combat homelessness in the Quad Cities and on top of combating homelessness, their goal is to see people eventually not only be renters, but then become homeowners, which of course is speaking our love language,” Jenny said.

“We did a large donation drive for them this year, for clothing and personal care items,” she said. “We were so grateful for the opportunity to help them because they were so grateful. This is gonna be something we’re gonna do every year because it just blew us away.” 

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sMHRqqyanJOewaqx0meaqKVfo7K4v46lppyZnGK7psPSaKicZZaev6Z5w56nmqqkorKvwNJmq6hllpawpnnOn51moZ5isKm1y6JknKefoHqwssVo