Sample And Savor Summer at Edgerton's Chilimania 2025

by Lakes Edition Staff



Last Updated: August 28, 2025 reading time: 10 minutes

Ready For Fire in the Belly? Come savor and celebrate dozens of professional and backyard chili artists and aficionados at Edgerton's largest festival of the year, Chilimania. The Friday-Saturday high-octane food fete is one of 400 American and international chili competitions sanctioned by the Texas based Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI.) $15 admission gets you through the gates on Henry Street in downtown Edgerton. Chilimania like the other CASI endorsed cookoffs raises money for a good cause. To date, the Edgerton chili competition has raised close to $250,000 raising awareness of the town's local businesses and educational

funds for area youth.

Onions, tomato paste, ground beef, red kidney beans, chili powder, black pepper cumin, and salt, these are the basic ingredients of chili.  Starting with those baseline ingredients the skilled regional cooks competing at Chilimania deliciously create culinary magic, part alchemy, part science, and a large helping of

creativity and art.

The CASI sanctioned cook off is open to chili cooks of all levels and interests. Not ready to graduate yet to chili? There is also a salsa contest. And the admission fee entitles all entrants to tasting (beginning at 3 pm) what the competitors have cooked up.  Competitors can enter one of four categories: CASI Chili, Traditional Chili, Salsa, and People's Choice 

And Chilimania is not just great tasting chili. Be sure to check out the family fun, food and live music from the opening gate at 11 am until 10 pm with Friday night main act, country musician, Lauren Alaina has earned three chart-topping hits: RIAA Platinum-certified “Road Less Traveled,” Diamond “What Ifs” with her childhood friend Kane Brown, and 3X Platinum “ONE BEER” with labelmate HARDY + Devin Dawson. With the Brown duet, Alaina became the only solo country female artist in history to receive the RIAA's Diamond certification on a single.

Saturday night's music feature is Son Of A Gun, the best Guns N’ Roses tribute band on planet earth. Fronted by Ari Kamin, lead singer of Steven Adler of Guns N’ Roses, this five piece Rock N’ Roll band based in Los Angeles is able to bring a stadium show to any kind of venue. Formed in 2012 in Argentina, they took advantage of the experience gained in years of touring the United States and quickly became the hottest band in L.A.

THE DETAILS

Chilimania runs all day Friday, September 5th through Saturday, September 6th from 11 am to 11 pm along Henry Street in downtown Edgerton, right in front of Lakesedition.com's home, The Edgerton Reporter.

Tickets: $15 adults, children under 12 free; There is also a VIP price $100 which also includes

assigned tables and other features.

Phone: (608) 561-7566

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