Olde Fashioned Christmas brought a crowd to downtown Palisade over the first weekend in December to enjoy the many festivities which included a Parade of Lights, an Arts and Crafts fair, Chili Cook-off, and the ever popular Gingerbread House Competition.
Nine chefs from the Grand Valley competed for the ‘People’s Choice’ awards in the annual Soup Challenge at the Library Courtyard on Saturday, Dec. 6. Tim Wedel created the beautiful trays and bowls as the prizes. First place went to Zoup, second place winner was 626 on Rood and the third place went to a new contender – No Coast Sushi. It was a tight competition with a lot of wonderful soups. A special thank you to Christine Wight of The Wine Country Inn for chairing the event.

Soup was popular last weekend! Parade watchers were lined up out the door of the Slice O’Life Bakery on Friday evening, where Altrusa was selling a variety of hot soups to warm everyone’s spirits.
The Gingerbread Contest and Showcase has always been a crowd favorite. Every year the creations surprise and overwhelm us with the detail and artistic efforts of every baker. Our winning houses are on display at Guild Mortgage and Toys for the Fun of It, both in downtown Grand Junction, and at the Fountains of Hilltop off Patterson.
We welcomed a very special guest this year, Lenny McNabb, the newest Food Network chef. Lenny handed out the prizes along with Dixie Burmeister. Thank you to Dixie and her Gingerbread Crew for making this event better and better every year. And the winners are:
Adult Category
1st – Suzanne Jamison and Kimber Cangner – Palisade
2nd – Kelly Minhon – Fruita
3rd – Audrey Kiser – Grand Junction
Honorable Mention – Sue Kiser – Grand Junction
“Fun” Adult
1st – Melissa McKay – Palisade
2nd – Rhonda Thisault-Lloyd – Grand Junction
3rd – Danica DeLalto – Grand Junction
Group
1st – Shelly, Kate, Bev, Terry – Grand Junction
2nd – Commons of Hilltop – Grand Junction
Youth
1st – Dale Marino – Grand Junction
2nd – Benner Bayliss – Montrose
Child – 6 to 11
1st – Alyssa Breeden – Fruita
2nd – Hylan Vanmaurer – Grand Junction
3rd – Austin Strain – Fruita
Honorable Mentions
Sadie Strain – Fruita
Kaden Strain – Fruita
Child – 5 and under
1st – Morgan Labbitt – Grand Junction
2nd – Joseph Hayes – Grand Junction
3rd – Bozy Mikosz – Palisade
Honorable Mentions – Issac Miller, Grand Junction
Are the chili cook off results posted in a different article?