Duane Hicks
Maybe it’s the busy time of year. Maybe it’s the theme.
No matter the precise cause, the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural “Pasta Palooza” cook-off slated for this Friday (Nov. 3) has been cancelled due to not enough participants.
As of Monday morning, only four of a tentative 10 pasta teams had confirmed their participation, prompting the Chamber’s projects and events committee to cancel it, Chamber executive director Jennifer Soderholm told the Times.
“It just wouldn’t feel like the patrons that would come out would be getting their money’s worth,” she reasoned, adding if the Chamber puts on an event, they want to do it right.
Soderholm said she’s heard a combination of explanations from would-be participants.
“For some, it was the time of year and that they’re so busy for some reason this year,” she noted.
“That seemed to be the big thing.
“For others, it was more along the lines of they loved the idea of the pasta but the only thing is, it’s hard to keep pasta for a few hours without it going sticky and that,” she added.
Soderholm said the Chamber likely will hold some sort of cook-off next year, but will form it will take remains to be seen.
“We may have to rethink this and maybe look at something different, or maybe try it [‘Pasta Palooza’] again,” she remarked.
“Maybe it’s just the time of the year because there was a number of them saying, ‘We can’t do it this year [but] we’d love to be involved, though.'”
The Chamber, after having hosted the annual chili cook-off for quite a few years, decided to try a pasta cook-off this year to bring a fresh angle to the event.
“Chili was good but last year, we had so many businesses saying, ‘We’ve done chili so much. We really can’t change it up any more than what we’ve done for so many years,'” noted Soderholm.
“‘Is there anything else we can do?'” she added.
The Chamber felt the idea for a pasta cook-off would be a hit, and the public certainly seemed interested.
“We thought, ‘This is going to be a great one’ because there’s an unlimited source of different kinds of pasta and pasta dishes,” Soderholm said.
“But for some reason, it seemed either the pasta theme or the time of the year–or just this year, in general–people were either way too busy, had too many things coming up, or whatever.”
Soderholm said if anyone has any ideas for a different kind of cook-off, they’re more than welcome to call her at 275-5773 or e-mail thefort@fortfranceschamber.com
“Give us a call. We’d love to put another event,” she urged.
“If people want us to go back to chili, we can look doing that.
“But if they have any other suggestions as possible things we could do as a cook-off, we’d love to entertain the possibility of something new and exciting,” added Soderholm.
“Pasta Palooza” originally was slated for Sept. 27 but was postponed due to not enough participants and also because it was scheduled too close to a “Business After Hours” event featuring provincial Energy minister Glenn Thibeault.
