Fire dept. entry hot item at chili cook off

Members of the Graafschap Fire Department know how to make pancakes – they’ve been doing it for more than 30 years. Now they can add another delicious accomplishment – chili.

The nonprofit Friends of the Graafschap Fire Department took home the first place award in the Traditional Chili Category in the annual Cow Hill Yacht Club Chili Cook Off at Wicks Park in Saugatuck on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025.

“We are glad to contribute to the Cow Hill Yacht Club charity event. Good people coming together,” said Dave Grumney, Captain, Training & Health/Safety of the Graafschap Fire Department, after receiving the judges’ award.

Check out a quick video of the event here.

Grumney, his wife Angie, and Ben Draper, firefighter, and his wife, Heather, entered their chilis to help raise funds for the Cow Hill Yacht Club, a 501c3 nonprofit that assists less fortunate people in the Saugatuck-Douglas area.

The Drapers and Grumneys also entered the event to raise awareness of the Graafschap Fire Department Pancake Breakfast, a community event that happens every year on July Fourth. The breakfast started in 1968 as a way for the Graafschap Civic Club to raise money for a ball field. The fire department took over organizing and running the breakfast in 1991. This year, 1,365 people attended the event.

The Graafschap Fire Department serves all of Laketown Township and part of Fillmore Township. 

Grumney served up a tomatillo chili with ingredients from his garden. Draper’s was an over-the-top smoke, meaning the meat was smoked over the pot allowing the slow cooked meat to drain and season the pot of chili.

More than a dozen area groups and restaurants dished out their recipes under a tent along the Kalamazoo River as boats slid by on the sunny afternoon and the band Rock Shop performed.

The judges wore long black robes and formal white wigs as Cow Hill Yacht Club members brought them small cups of the chilis to taste.