Something green is cooking downtown


Families will have their annual chance to wear green and breathe fire for good causes Saturday afternoon in downtown Henderson.

The Downtown Development Commission’s ninth annual celebration of St. Patrick’s Day will feature all of the familiar fun: an all-day sidewalk sale for Garnett Street merchants; face painting, balloon art and a giant inflated slide from Lighthouse Entertainment for the kids from noon to 2; a chili cook-off for the adults and tough-tongued kids at noon; and a parade for everyone at 2:30.

St. Patrick’s Day is one of two parade holidays in Henderson; the other is Christmas. Sheri Jones, the director of the Downtown Development Commission, said the Irish-American holiday gained that elite status before she took her current job. “We just always did it.”

The celebration usually produces a nice crowd at the end of Breckenridge Street between Garnett and Wyche streets, beside the Wildflower Cafe building. That’s where the children’s activities, the chili and the sodas are.

“We’ve never gotten anything but positive feedback,” Jones said. “It’s pretty much just a fun a day.”

Usually the police have to close Breckenridge for the afternoon to accommodate the festivities, but this year the Embassy Square streetscape project has torn up and shut down the road from Chestnut Street to Wyche. As the luck of the Irish would have it, the site of the festivities is safely east of the construction.

That setup could prove particularly lucky for Heart’s Haven and the Shriners’ Amran Racers Unit, the charitable organizations that will split the proceeds of the chili cook-off.

Heart’s Haven, the domestic violence shelter and program run by ACTS, was the sole beneficiary of the cook-off. But the Amran Racers, known for their funny little cars in parades, are helping promote and run the fund-raising contest this year and putting half of the money raised toward the Shriners’ free children’s hospitals.

A.B. Cobb, who is organizing the cook-off for the Amran Racers, said he hopes to double the $1,000 Heart’s Haven has received from the event in past years. He said Heart’s Haven is a “fantastic project.”

At least five teams will be competing for recognition as best tasting chili (judged by sales), hottest chili and best decorated cooking site, Cobb said: the Amran Racers; the Peanut Roaster; the Henderson Masonic Lodge; Heart’s Haven; and Gray’s Gourmet. The Vance County Sheriff’s Office might participate.

Each team pays a $10 entry fee and prepares 5 gallons of chili. The team that sells the most $1 bowls of chili gets to ride in the parade.

The chairman of the Amran Racers, Tony Williamson, is a lock to win hottest chili, Cobb said. “He puts a million Scoville units of heat in his chili.”

That’s the equivalent of four or five pure habanero peppers.

But Saturday’s festivities aren’t about winning and losing, Cobb said. “It’s about the community. It’s about benefiting Henderson and Vance County.”

A more fleeting benefit is the fun of the parade. Jones said 21 entrants have paid $10 each to roll in the parade, and she’ll have the lineup set this morning.

“This is a real community-oriented event,” Cobb said. “Families are there. It’s a good time.”