In September, at the invitation of Toni’s brother Rick and his wife, Jenn, Byron and Toni journeyed south to check out Pueblo’s world famous Chili and Frijole Festival. Yes, we know that Hatch, New Mexico is way more famous than Pueblo, Colorado for their Chilis, but googling, it really does appear the two are neck in neck, with Pueblo edging out Hatch NM by one listing. Clearly, both contenders are way above the Oklahoma Hatch Chili festival, which isn’t even selling it’s own product. What ultimately puts Pueblo over the edge in our book is that Pueblo is closer to home, and since Toni’s brother lives there we can stay the night for free. The Chilis aren’t half bad either.
Our trip to Pueblo included stops at an Italian market, and at Musso Farm’s farmer market (say that three times fast!) held at Musso farms. Since we were there, we went ahead and grabbed some Chilis. Musso roasts right at the festival, too, but here we had smaller crowds. Still crowds, but smaller, like a jalapeno-sized crowd vs a pasilla-pepper-sized crowd.
Bags of chili peppers in hand, we still ventured on to the streets of the Chili fest, and discovered MAGIC! Yes! The Chili Fest had an old west magic show, much to Byron’s delight. One of the earliest magic show’s he’d seen was a “snake oil” show, and this brought back many of the same vibes. Toni and Rick ventured off to a food and drink establishment while Byron stayed checking out the “competition.”
