A nice warm bowl of chili, there's not much better during a cold North Country winter and Debby Vaughn at the Montague Inn in Lewis County is one of many that does it right.

What You Need To Know

  • The annual North Country Chili Cook-Off serves as a fundraiser for the local Volunteer Transportation Center

  • The Montague Inn in Lewis County is one restaurant taking part in the new format, a 'pub crawl' type format, which allows the contest to happen despite COVID-19

  • Instead of people all gathering at the State Office Building in Watertown, people will be able to go to various restaurants and sample chili from the participating restaurants

This year, the restaurant is hoping it has the combination of the winning recipe. It is joining dozens of others in entering this year's North Country Chili Cook-off.

However, instead of bringing it to the people, which typically gather for the contest at the state office building in Watertown, this year the people will be coming to them.

Organizers are not letting COVID-19 cancel the event, but rather coming up with the idea to turn it into a pub crawl type format. Each day in February, people can go to a different restaurant to sample the goodness.

"I think it's an opportunity to show some skills that we possibly have and again, reach out to people that we possibly couldn't reach out to," Vaughn said.

During the pandemic, that is critical, but the most important part in all of this Vaughn says is knowing that it will make a difference in the lives of people who need the services the Volunteer Transportation Center offers such as helping people get to medical appointments to delivering groceries.

"I think it is heartwarming. I know there are elderly people who cannot get around and might need transportation or maybe somebody that may be financially distressed and there's the possibility of maybe a veteran needing a ride," Vaughn said.

If heart is the ingredient that makes the best chili, it most definitely makes the best communities. For more information on participating restaurants, visit the VTC website.