Terlingua International Chili Championship

Terlingua, TX · Odd

When: November 4–7, 2026
Where: Rancho CASI de los Chisos, Mariposa Mine Road · Terlingua · TX
Cost: Not confirmed
Status: Confirmed from the organizer's published schedule

A chili cookoff in the Chihuahuan Desert near Big Bend, descended from a 1967 publicity stunt between a humorist and a chili cook. A dispute in 1983 split the event in two, and rival cookoffs have been held on the same weekend a few miles apart ever since; this is the CASI one, marking its 59th year.

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The history within reach

Terlingua International Chili Championshipsame spot
A chili cookoff in the Chihuahuan Desert near Big Bend, descended from a 1967 publicity stunt between a humorist and a chili cook.
Terlingua, quicksilver camp turned chili cook-off3.3 mi
A quicksilver mining camp that supplied much of America's mercury for two wars and emptied when the company went bankrupt in 1942.
Santa Elena Canyon12 mi
The Rio Grande cuts a 1,500-foot limestone gorge here.
The Chisos, a sky island in the desert14 mi
A range that rises high enough out of the Chihuahuan Desert to hold pine, oak and maple left stranded when the climate dried after the last ice age.
Lajitas elects a beer-drinking goat15 mi
A border settlement on the Rio Grande made a goat called Clay Henry its mayor, and tourists fed him beer from the store across the road.