Who Won The 2026 Chili Cook-Off in Great Falls?

Over the weekend, participants from all across Cascade County set up shop inside the Great Falls Civic Center to showcase their best chili recipes.

For me, this was my first time experiencing a Chili Cook-Off in Great Falls, let alone Montana. To top it all off, I was honored to go in as an official judge for the cook-off and man, the vendors in attendance did not disappoint.

2026 Chili Cook-Off in Great Falls

When walking into the Civic Center for the cook-off, your nose is immediately greeted by the sizzling seasonings and spices dancing through the air. The vibe was set the band on-stage, F-Bomb, who played a variety of early 2000's pop/punk hits ranging from Blink 182 to Good Charlotte and I even think I heard an Eve 6 song in there.

Chili enthusiasts found their way to their tables and spots, enjoying a variety of chili recipes from businesses in the area that included:

• Electric City Catering
• Clark & Lewie's
• Texas Roadhouse
• Tracy's
• Black Eagle Community Center
• Spices & Spurs
• Wild Hare
• Black Eagle Country Club
• Magpie

The cook-off had two award categories: Judge's Choice & People's Choice.

How Did the Judges Score the Great Falls Chili Cook-Off?

As judges, we didn't really have a baseline criterion, but we did deliberate quite a bit about our decisions because of our vastly different palettes.

For example, one of the things that mattered to me was what a hearty spoonful of pure chili tasted like. Sure, I love all of the fixings that come with chili, but I wanted to know how it tasted on its own, in one hearty bite.

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Did I get a good variety of flavor in that one bite? Can I taste the meat and how it's seasoned? If it needed it, did it have the right amount of heat? If there were beans, is there a good meat-to-bean ratio?

Of course, it all comes down to personal preference, and when it came to judge's input, we challenged one another to see if they could taste what we could, what we didn't, etc.

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Needless to say, I almost had my buddy Baker Bob roll me out of the venue like Violet Beauregarde had to be rolled out of Wonka's factory for eating his (untested) "three-course dinner gum."

Great Falls 2026 Chili Cook-Off Results

Again, there were several other details me and the other judges paid attention to. So much so, that if we were to all get together and write a chili cook-off manual on things we looked for, we'd have a manual the size of a Harry Potter book.

So, who won the Judge's Choice and who won the People's Choice?