Barbara Lawlor

Nederland

Hay bales and pumpkin people, balloon targets to pop, homemade chili to savor, best recipe pies to gobble up and tattoos to last the day.

Calvary Chapel's First Annual Harvest Festival on Saturday afternoon was blessed with sunshine and warmth.

"We wanted to reach out to the town," said Pat Gibney, Pastor Doug Gibney's wife, "and so we asked people to bring in their best chili and best pie to help us celebrate the transition from fall to winter as we wait for the white stuff to come. We just wanted to welcome the community to come in and enjoy good food."

The 12 different kinds of chili included creamy chicken green chili, Old Firehouse #7, Spicy Dan's Chili, Texas Style, Terrible 10 and Mystery Chili as well as many more typical flavors.

The competition was tough. After everyone had tasted and voted Ross Dicken announced the winners: First place went to Adreana's turkey chili; second place went to Bill Dempsey's firehouse chili and third place went to Pat Gibney's creamy chicken green chili. The winners received ribbons and small trophies and, of course, bragging rights for a year.

The pie winners included: Juciene Makenna Wilk's first place key lime pie, Shannon Silva's second place, pecan pie and there was a tie for third place with the cherry and the fall fruit equally as popular.

As the chili and the pies and the lemonade disappeared, people dispersed into the sunny day, their appetite appeased, their feeling of peace and fellowship restored.