Need help with Chili Contest

[JFDdan]

We're a small rural dept. in northwestern wisconsin and after attending a clam chowder contest while on vacation in florida, i figured a fire dept. chili making contest would be a good fundraiser. we're planning a sportsman's raffle and chili contest this fall. so far i'm planning on inviting the area restaurants to be the contestants, and charging the public a few bucks to sample chili and of course buy raffle tickets for prizes. i've thought about using people from the town board, sheriff's dept, the fire chief and a DNR rep as the judges, and having plaques as prizes that the restaurants could proudly display at their bar. any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
dan

[fireseeker04]

this is just an idea but maybe you could also allow the local civilias and members from other depts or even depts as a team to enter and of course charge an entry fee and there can be the judges you spoke of and then the public tasting. i just figured if the public had the chance to get involved with the cooking then you'd have a better turn out. you can even have dif age groups if enough enter you can have teens, adults and seniors and dif prizes for each....................