It was a cold winter day in 1987. While sitting in the old WMVY building my mind was percolating for an idea for some excitement. I never thought this idea would eventually turn into a major event that would attract thousands of off-Island chili tasters and hundreds of chili cooks.

But my story begins on that cold winter day. Perusing a trade magazine, I noticed that a small radio station in New Mexico decided to have a chili contest and within a few years it became a major event. The Vineyard already had a chowder contest. Chili? Why not?

My cohorts at the station liked the idea and the match was lit.

Step number one: a venue. Off I went to see Tom Carlos, the GM at Checkers. For Vineyard newbies, Checkers, on Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs, followed the Boston House and preceded the Atlantic Connection. Tom was most agreeable and we put a plan together. Promoting the event was easy. After all, that’s what a radio station does.

The event needed a name. Thinking big, the Big Chili Contest hit the radio airways. Of course we needed a Big Chili T-shirt. Enter Trader Fred Mascolo. No problem and no charge if Trader Fred could put his name on the shirt too.

We made the event a fundraiser for the Red Stocking Fund.

Calls started coming from mainland listeners, so thanks to Jimmy Flynn and the Pier 44 Transportation Company, the Big Chili Bus would meet the folks at the boat and ferry them to Oak Bluffs.

WMVY program director Jeff (Damon) Pratt recalled the adventure with the buses. “We got one or two to meet the boat and got slammed. We ran extra trips. Nobody was expecting the off-Island turnout. The Big Chili Bus was a big hit.”

The big day arrived and, quite frankly, we had no idea what would happen. Ten enthusiastic chefs showed up with all their fixins. Checkers supplied the grills to help cook and heat the chili. There was already a line when the door opened at noon. People kept coming.

Then it happened ­— too much electricity for 10 outlets. They all began to trip. Resetting the fuse box continued all afternoon. The solution for next year: Sterno!

But the electrical problem was no problem for Laurie and Mark Lucier. The creative duo won the amateur category with their concoction of London broil steak chunks, tomatoes, beans, chili powder and Corona beer. Their special recipe came from Mark’s Italian grandmother’s mother, Mrs. Mary Roberti.

Recently Laurie told me: “What can I say, for years any time the conversation turned to Big Chili, I always say, did you know that I won the very first one? I still have the three-foot-high trophy displayed in my living room. Mark built a cabinet and it’s been a conversation piece ever since.”

After that, every year Oak Bluffs became the center of the chili universe. Eventually, Checkers was sold and replaced by the Atlantic Connection. The new general manager, Larry Johnson, faced the challenge of hosting 39 enterprising chili experts. That’s correct 39. Somehow Larry squeezed them all into the club.

I was told later that 525 people managed to slurp their way through all kinds of chili that day. Looking back on my Big Chili historical chronicles, I can attest to the following: Tex Peterson’s buffalo chili was made with a seven-pound buffalo roast from South Dakota. The chili cooked for 10 hours.

There was also the legendary Buffalo Evans’ “Buffs Rocket Chili” with no beans, proclaiming “the afterburn is great.”

There was the “Old Leather Throat Chili”, a concoction dreamed up by Mike Reynolds and Jim Raymond. It came from a recipe copied off the walls at the Alamo.

The very popular Oak Bluffs eatery Seguistas, would not reveal its secret ingredients.

Lionel Aucoin showed up with his French Cajun chili, both hot and mild.

Jim Blaine, well known for his tempura at the Ag Fair, whipped up a tempura chili.

Categories included: Best Chili, Hottest Chili, Is It Really Chili, The Furthest Away Chili, Vegetarian Chili.

The lines of eager and hungry people grew longer every year. The chili aroma in the Atlantic Connection was indescribable. Crowds grew. We found a real live Mariachi band. Corona beer jumped aboard as a sponsor. We truly had a Big Chili contest.

Former WMVY staffers have fond big chili memories.

Mike Mclaughlin recalled: “My big thrill for the first one was not only being in the DJ booth but getting all excited about rattlesnake chili. I was so looking forward to trying it for the very first time and like everything else it tasted like chicken. Mostly, it was the camaraderie from those wonderful big chili contests.”  

It was all about the chili for WMVY king of the oldies, Pete (Fly By Night) Sawyer: “I sampled lots of green chilis, spicy chilis, alligator chili. Some of the chili was molten. Ayyaah!”

Off-Island interest continued to grow. There were chili chefs from all over Cape Cod, Eastern Massachusetts and Connecticut.

WMVY’s Shawn Taylor remembered: “The party started in Woods Hole for a lot of people. I liked the ‘is it really chili’ category. It was a big winter event on the Island and good times were had by all.”

Chili creativity was unbelievable. David’s Restaurant from Falmouth entered an alligator chili, authenticated by a bill of sale from the alligator supplier in Florida.

Eddie Cerrato came down from Needham with a sirloin and Cajun sausage chili, with his secret ingredient, later revealed as unsweetened baker’s chocolate. He did not win.

After all the chili was consumed and the votes tallied, Fella’s Catering took first place in the professional category.

In 1989, there were several Big Chili buses to meet the folks at the boat. Off-Island visitors made it a Vineyard holiday weekend. That Saturday over 750 people sampled 46 varieties of chili served at the Atlantic Connection. To this day I regret not owning a Rolaids booth.

There was such creativity: Portuguese chili, smoked chili, chicken chili and a swordfish chili with more seafood than most fish markets.

Chili maker Bob Gosselin told me: “James Paquette gave me a cooler of moose meat and we made kick a** chili.”

Falmouth’s Big Joe Harvey, big in stature and big in smiles, captured the professional prize.

When 1990 rolled around, the WMVY crew really had a handle on things. The fourth annual event was the biggest Big Chili contest ever. How big? Over 1,000 people came through the Atlantic Connection doors to feast such delights as David Chester’s “Yee Ha’s Wo Pig” chili. Chester claimed that Wo Pig was the Egyptian god of chili.

Chernobyl Chili won the Is It Really Chili award.

Some recall the “Bump and Grind” chili with steak, pork, four kind kinds of chilis and three kinds of peppers.

Vineyard Natural Foods naturally won the best vegetarian award.

Petey Berndt, the owner of Coop de Ville stated: “We won it one year but got hammered. I forget the rest of the story.”

Eventually, the Big Chili contest became so popular that it outgrew the Atlantic Connection and moved to the big tent at the P.A. Club where the aroma of chili filled the air in the Cottage City for several more years.

The Big Chili contest will forever be a part of Island lore.

Ken Goldberg lives in Edgartown.