A true Beers and Beans event (Well almost…).

A couple weeks ago Randy and I got to cover the Del Mar Chili & Beer Festival at the Del Mar Racetrack for The Coast News. I thought this would be the ultimate Beers and Beans event because it was all about beer and chili.

It would’ve fit perfectly with our theme but there was not one vegetarian chili to be found in the bunch. Gasp! I did think there would be at least one, I was kind of shocked since there were over 50 contestants and none of them used beans. Shucks for me!

(I have no idea why this font is bold and everything is capitalized but like most things on wordpress it’s about to suddenly correct itself below.)

We had a great time covering the events, Randy wrote the article and interviewed everyone (which I consider to be much harder) and I snapped the photos. We’ve worked together like this a few times and it’s really pretty fun. Working together like this is the type of thing we are looking forward to on the big trip.

The best part was discovering the media room at the racetrack. From up there we got a full view of the ponies running the racetrack, ate a bunch of free food (even ice cream!) and got to hang with some other journalists. It was a nice change of pace from the crazy, hot & massively crowded fairgrounds and we didn’t have to buy any overpriced food – bonus! Plus we just felt cool hanging in the ‘media’ room.

Ok. This sunflower wasn’t sent to the paper for the story, but I love it and so I had to include it anyway. And it’s not often you’ll see me post pictures of flowers.

Oddly we were not offered any free beer samples at the Microbrew festival, which was strange seeing as we were writing and take pictures for the paper. Apparently the brewers did not want us to write a first hand account of what we thought of their goods. Which I thought was pretty dumb of them but then again I might be biased since I was definetly looking forward to some free beer.

Randy sampled some chili and said it was all fantastic. Apparently the chili festival which much more of a big deal than I ever thought it would be. Turns out the winner from this contest gets a coveted place in the national chili contest and if your wardrobe is basically jalepeno inspired buttoned down shirts (seriously, I counted waaaay over 30) this is basically the pilgrimage you’ve been thinking, dreaming & lusting over your entire life.

The Del Mar Racetrack hosts awesome events on the racetrack infield all summer. The best part is you buy a ticket to the races ($6) and you get the concerts for free! If you’re in the area you should check it out. I saw Billy Idol there a couple years ago and he sported 4, count ’em, 4 clothing changes in his 2 hour set. To top it off, he played the same day they had a Microbrew Festival (like the one we covered here) except we actually found a tapped keg that got left behind and so we drank free all night! I thought we got more than our $6 worth when we found the free keg but when Billy ripped his shirt off on stage that really sealed the sweet deal.

Click here to visit the Del Mar Racetrack concert calendar.

Ziggy Marley is on the books for the end of the summer!