Brookhaven Chili Cookoff

It was a beautiful, perfectly sunny warm October day for the festival, so that scores high just from an experience standpoint, but there are a few positives and negatives to this festival worth noting for future attendees.
Parking in the daily area at the Brookhaven Marta Station is permissible and free and easy, but expect a 15 min walk to the festival entrance. Seriously, it is a HIKE up Apple Valley just to get there.
Tickets are reasonably priced: $ 5 if you paid in advance, $ 10 at the door and this entitles you to a wristband to prove that you are a paying attendee and you get a spoon for all of the little sample cups of chili you would like to try. You can enter the festival without paying and if you are not really a chili person, but are attending with others who will be more likely to get their money’s worth, I say, don’t pay and just walk in and explore.
The festival has very LONG hours — from 11 am to 7 pm, so one would expect that you could go most anytime in the afternoon and be able to try a variety of the chili cookoff entries, but nope, almost everything was completely gone by 1:30 or 2 pm, so go early!
Beer lines were very long early in the day, perhaps as many as 40 people in line, so that was a slow process. These did clear up later and the price for a 16 oz beer was fair at $ 5.
There were 3 live bands who performed and the caliber of music was good, so an enjoyable backdrop to the festival.
Overall, a fun fall event for a short while if you are in the area, or really like chili!

This is a new endeavor in the budding Brookhaven community and while it needs some work, there was plenty of chili, lots of great music, fun activities for kids, and a really awesome lemonade stand making fresh lemonade on the spot. For just $ 5 you got unlimited tastings of restaurant and home-​prepared chilis, and after three trips through the various lines I definitely feel I got my money’s worth.
They plan on having more eating areas set up in the shade for next year and trying to expand to offer more things to do before and after the chili tasting hours, but there was a good turnout for a first time event, especially considering it was competing against Music Midtown. I do plan on coming back next year!