Midway News Midway Women’s Club The Midway Woman’s Club welcomes its members and the public to hear all about the happenings of the Woodford County Tourist Commission from its new executive director, Emily Downey. The meeting will be held at Midway Presbyterian Church on 103 N. Turner Street Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. Downey is an experienced marketing and business development professional. She has worked with Alltech and serves on the Woodford County Chamber of Commerce Board, Bluegrass Community Hospital Board, LexArts Board, and is on the advisory council for Girls on the Run. Downey is married to Magistrate William Downey (Dist. 6), with whom she has two children.
Sound Session with Rhett Fulkerson Join Rhett Fulkerson for a Saturday morning sound session Feb. 8 at 8:45 a.m. at Midway Presbyterian Church at 110 North Turner Street for some gentle yoga followed by a soothing sound session. You will leave the class relaxed, inspired and refreshed! The cost is whatever you would like to donate.
Equus Run Kisses & Calories Open House Head to Equus Run Vineyard Saturday, Feb. 8, for an afternoon of wine, chocolate, friends and classic rock music from Rocksteady! The event is free and family friendly. Music is from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Midway Views Chili Cookoff at Midway Christian Church The evening once again surpassed all expectations for the annual Midway Chili Cookoff at Midway Christian Church. For the third year in a row, the contest was won by the now 17-year-old Alex Woodruff from Midway. There was a two-way tie for second place between Ray Papka and Gloria Batts. Papka is the father of Midway’s own Ouita Michel and Gloria Batts is the worship team leader at Midway Christian Church. Some 90 people came to the Chili Cookoff Monday night, including Mayor Grayson Vandegrift, Ouita Michel, Bill and Leslie Penn, and Bart and Debra Shockley. It was a fantastic turnout and a great way to meet and catch up with your neighbors. The oldest diner may have been Ann Ortenburger, who celebrated her 91st birthday Saturday and comes to most of the monthly community dinners held at Midway Christian Church. Adele Dickerson from Midway Christian Church – who keeps me informed on what’s going on at the church each week – said volunteers from Midway Christian Church deliver about 30 meals to residents at the Midway apartments for those who can’t make it to the church for the dinner. Up for grabs, besides restaurant gift cards for the first, second and third placed winners at the chili cookoff, were bragging rights as to who made the best chili. Enjoying the evening were Bart and Debra Shockley, husband and wife, who had both entered the chili cookoff. Confident of her prowess, Debra said of her sweet and spicy chili that the secret ingredient was hot pepper jelly and laughingly added, “I’ve beaten him before” of her husband. Both also compete in the Midway Chili Cookoff in the fall and another held at Debra’s workplace – Ross Tarrant Architects. Bart Shockley threw down the Chili Cookoff gauntlet with a chili con carne made with chuck roast. “My secret ingredient is love,” spoofed Shockley. Debra quipped that his secret ingredient was spice, not love, on account of the seven jalapeno peppers that Bart put in his chili. Glass joked that he should have brought antacids from his store to help calm diners’ stomachs after eating all the chili. Bart Shockley even made his own chili powder, grinding oregano, cumin and chili before toasting it in a skillet and then adding to his chili. Bart somewhat ruefully added that his chili recipe has never been good enough to beat his wife’s! Debra conceded that the main competition in her opinion was Alex Woodruff. She also mentioned Rick Caudill (of Millville’s Hillbilly Daze fame), who she said, “makes a great burgoo” and Ray Papka, father of Ouita Michel, who she said is a good cook. Papka finished in a tie for second at this year’s event. In addition to the chili entries, were fixings for the chili, like sour cream, crackers, cheese, hot sauce, scallions and, as a side, church members had made bread, cornbread, cookies and brownies. Jim Nance made the bread for the evening – and has made the bread for communion for the past 30 years! “Back in the 70s we had a really bad snow and instead of going to our regular church one Sunday, we stopped in at Midway Christian Church,” explained Nance. “We have been coming here ever since.” Another parishioner who happened upon Midway Christian Church is Wanda Alford. She met Ben Roach one day and they got talking about church and he invited her to come to Midway Christian Church. “I explained to him that I had been raised Baptist,” recalled Alford. “And Ben jokingly said, ‘I won’t hold that against you!’” Alford remembers that her boys were both in preschool at that time and they are now in their 40s, so she, too has been coming to Midway Christian Church for some 35 years. “The church is 175 years old and the first minister at this church supported the Union in the Civil War!” Alford said, referring to Dr. L. L. Pinkerton, who was the first to preach at the Midway church and was one of five brothers who were all preachers. He preached the dedicatory sermon at the church on Christmas Day 1844. The current building dates to 1896 and replaced that first building, which was quickly outgrown. Alford comes to almost every community dinner, held on the last Monday of every month at 6:30 p.m., which are cooked by a team of Midway Christian Church volunteers led by Ouita Michel. Ray Papka said he’d rummaged through his extensive collection of cookbooks before finding a recipe titled “Best Ever Chili” and knew that was the recipe he wanted for the contest. “It called for two pounds of hamburger, an onion, a cup of celery, green pepper, garlic, hot chili beans, chili tomatoes and tomato paste,” said Papka. “I cooked it on the stove top for about an hour-and-a-half but cooked it yesterday, so the flavors could intensify and blend together.” Some 19 different chili entries were submitted.