Our founder, Hondo Crouch, Mayor of Luckenbach decided to have a Ladies Only Chili Cookoff. Hondo declared the Ladies to be “Hell Hath No Fury Society” (aka LIke a Woman Scorned). Each cook received a letter from Hondo thanking them for their entry and advising them what to bring to cook their chili.
On October 16, 1971, the first chili cook-off was held in Lukenbach – the Susan B. Anthony Memorial Chili Cook-off. The cook-off consisted of 21 Ladies cooking together under the big oak tree in front of the General Store/Post Office.
There were three judges that tasted all the entries. Who knows how they came up with a judging system back then. Being on Luckenbach time, just before announcements, Hondo had a couple of his friends run to Fredericksburg to acquire a crown from Kueneman’s Dry Goods Store for the Queen. (The Queen is the highest finishing place of a Texas resident.) The Queen that year was Cindy Craig from San Antonio, Texas. Thus, the Chili Queen Crown was known as “Elizabeth” …. It is unknown how she got her name but it could have been like the real Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth has been handed down to each Queen since then, 53 years so far!
Back in 1991, the Queen was Sue Morgan from Irving, Texas. Sue decided to have a trophy case built due to the fragility of Elizabeth. The case holding Elizabeth has plaques placed on it with names of the previous Queens. This trophy case has been a tradition carried out since then and Elizabeth remains safe to this day awaiting for the next Queen to receive it.
Elizabeth – Photo credit – Irma Olivas
