For the youth: Rotary raises $15,000 for B&G Club with annual chili cook-off

POLSON — The Polson Rotary Club not only cooked up some tasty chili Saturday, but they looked good doing it.

The event’s sponsoring club won two of three categories at the Fifth Annual Polson Rotary Festival for the Youth, a fundraiser this year benefitting the local Boys and Girls Club held at Riverside Park.

“We had a beach scene with some limbo going on,” event organizer and Polson Rotary Club President Rob Turner said. “People were having a good time.”

The group took home the People’s Choice and Best Decoration and Costume awards, while First United Methodist Church won first prize from the judges’ taste test.

Thirteen teams entered the competition whose main goal is to raise money for a youth organization in need. Every year the funds go to a different cause, last year helping the Mission Valley Mariners make improvements at O’Malley Field. This year, Turner said the Polson Rotary Club hopes to make a $15,000 donation to the Boys and Girls Club of Lake County.

“One of our big reasons for partnering up with the Boys and Girls Club is they reach anywhere between 400 and 600 children in Lake County,” Turner said. “They have a van called Edgar that is, apparently, biting the dust, so the goal is to make a donation to them to help fix their van.”

Along with the chili cook-off, the Rotary Club was able to raffle off $1,000 cash, $1,000 groceries, 300 pounds of Kobe beef, 115 bottles of wine and two season golf passes. Turner estimates the event grossed about $17,000.

“We’re going to keep it going,” Turner said of the club’s signature event. “It’s been a great success over the years.”