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Westport's MacChilifest Serves Up A Winter Warmup For A Good Cause

WESTPORT, Conn. — Mac and Cheese Chili will be among the dishes served up at the MacChilifest, which will be held this Sunday at Bedford Middle School in Westport from 11 am. to 3 p.m.

Jim Keenan is the coordinator for the MacChilifest in Westport.

Jim Keenan is the coordinator for the MacChilifest in Westport.

Photo Credit: File

The event is the little brother of the Chowdafest, an annual Pre-Super Bowl party that first outgrew the Unitarian Church, then Bedford Middle School, then the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport.

Last year it moved to Sherwood Island. But the outdoor venue meant a change in date.

The result, Chief Chowda Head and event coordinator Jim Keenan said, was “lots of hate mail. … What happened to my Pre-Super Bowl Party?”

So Keenan created the ChiliFest, and started getting “love mail.”

New food, same format. Buy your ticket — online or at the door, $15 for adults, $5 for children — get a spoon, a ballot and a pencil.

Eat your heart out, take unlimited samples of more than 20 chilis from 17 restaurants — and two firehouses — how can you not!

And the Sacred Heart Marching Band will perform to get you in the football spirit.

There’ll be Classic Beef Chili and Creative Chili. And, because kids rule, a couple of restauranteurs' children demanded Mac ’n Cheese, so you’ll have eight varieties of Mac ’n Cheese Chili to try.

There’ll be Maxarroni and Cheese served up by Southport Brewery, Pulled Pork Mac ’n Cheese from Fairfield’s Chilibomb, and an upscale Truffle Mushroom Chili from TruNorth in Black Rock. And more!

And your money will help fund a good cause — the Shelton-based Mary A. Schmecker Turtle Shell Fund, which “seeks to promote the education of young people in art, music, theater, skilled crafts other creative pursuits in order to create a rich cultural heritage for tomorrow.”

For more information, and your link to tickets, go to click here. And join the ChiliFestivities to start your Super Bowl Sunday with great eats for a great cause.

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