The good news is the Carson City Invitational Chili Cookoff takes place Saturday here in Carson City.
The bad news is, the cookoff is closed to the public and the media.
"That's the way the cooks wanted it to be," said Dr. Ed Pierczynski, who along with his wife Mary, will host the cookoff at their Franktown Road home. "This is strictly the best against the best and it's an all-out battle to see who gets bragging rights for the next year."
The International Chili Society world champion Maud Swick from Bakersfield, Calif., will be cooking in the event. Swick won the world title last October in Las Vegas when she beat 122 top chili cooks from around the world.
"We'll have four or five former world champions compete as well as most of the top chili cooks in this area, plus we'll have cooks flying in from various parts of the country to compete," said Pierczynski, who is better known as Dr. Chili. "This is one of the hardest cookoffs there is to win. I will cook at Saturday's cookoff and so will Mary. Last year's champion J.R. Knudsen will be back to defend his title. His wife Margo will cook too and she's a former world champion herself."
So is Dr. Chili. He won the title in 1992.
Danny Murphy of Carson City is the chief judge for the cookoff and many of the top chili judges in the country will judge the private event. Bill Brown of Reno is master of ceremonies and also a judge for the cookoff.
About 30 cooks are expected to compete.
- The 1999 Carson City Invitational can been seen on Carson Access Television channel 10 Saturday at 8 p.m. The one-hour telecast repeats Sunday at 6 p.m.