Games, bounce castles, and a ton of chili could be found over the weekend at Family Community Church for the second Carnival and Chili Cookoff in Swift Current. 

This was the second year that the event was able to take place in the city, with the inaugural event taking place back in 2019. 

Bev Swanson, a pastor at the church, said that she and her husband Ron initially put the event together as a way to connect and give back to the community. 

“It's been great to be able to do community things,” she explained. “We really love to be able to put on these types of events for both our people, but also the community. And just serve our community and do something fun. They all seem to have a really good time. Some of them walked away with some pretty big prizes and a pretty big smile, so that makes it worthwhile.” 

Over 110 people turned up to the event on Sunday. 

Attendees were able to partake in the chili contest by sampling the eight different options and voting for their favourite. 

“They got little Dixie cups, so they went and got little taste tests on each of the chili's that they wanted to try, and then they picked their favourite one and put that number into a draw in a little basket,” she elaborated. “Then at the end, we counted all the votes, and the winner got a prize.” 

Swanson added that the sweet chili was the winner of this year’s contest. 

The event was also filled with family-friendly activities like bounce castles, carnival games, and face painting.