Two of Tamaqua’s four volunteer fire companies partnered together for the fifth year to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

East End and American Hose Company offered the community a chance to come in from the rain and get warmed up with sugar, spice and slow simmered fare for the annual Chili/Boilo cook-off.According to co-coordinator Tom McCarroll of the East End Fire Company, the cook-off has raised over $11,000 for the charity.“We take all the money raised and donate during the telethon in April,” he said.“Brian (Connely of American Hose) and I were sitting at the bar one day and thought of something we could do together to raise money. He said ‘why not do a chili/boilo cook-off?’ We weren’t sure how it would go, but in the first year we raised over $2,500.”“It’s called coming together for a cause for a reason. There’s been a friendly competition between us, it was always who’s the best fire company, who gets out the fastest. We put aside our differences and said, let’s raise money for cancer,” said throat cancer survivor McCarroll.“We cooperate and do things like this together. We have raised money for our own departments but you have to give back to the community,” Connely said.“It gets bigger every year. Everyone’s got their own special recipe and they are all good,” said Connely, who makes Creamsicle Boilo.In all, 11 chili recipes and 18 boilo concoctions were submitted, with contestants paying a $20 fee to enter their creations while tasters pay $20 to try both.The homemade creations were divided into traditional and nontraditional categories, giving each a chance to win People’s Choice or Judges’ Choice trophies.The standard base of the Coal Country beverage staple consists of fruit, seasoning, honey and either moonshine or whiskey.“Most of the time the people don’t agree with the judges. The judges do a blind taste-test and it’s very seldom that someone wins both,” McCarroll said. “The specialty category came up a few years ago and now we have apple pie and peppermint. Everyone has their own little twist on it.”Boilo maker Charlie Connely of the American Hose Company brought seven bottles of his Blueberry Pie. His secret was two quarts of fresh blueberries.“He got it right,” said taster Harry Browne of New Jersey. “It’s a nice dessert and I know my liquor.”Fellow American Hose Company member and boilo maker Tom Slane submitted his Caramel Apple flavor for tasting. “There’s not one family that hasn’t been affected by cancer. We are two companies here for one cause, two companies working together,” he said.Len Hoben traveled from Whitehall to enjoy the cook-off. “I came to support the fire department and the cause. I’ve lost too many friends to cancer,” he said.Across the aisle, Matt Coccio dished out his large slow cooker of chili in under just two hours of the door opening.“I made sweet sausage specialty chili. It took three hours to brown everything, cut it up and put it in the fridge over night,” he said.“For the past three years I was judge and figured I’d get in the contest and see what happens,” Coccio said.Glen Hummel of the American Hose Company created a traditional chili with lots of garlic. “It was gone in just an hour,” he said. “Anytime you can get that many people from the community to support a cause, it’s fantastic.”People’s choice trophy winners were:• Chili: Anne Connely for traditional and Sharon Connely for nontraditional.• Boilo: Jim Mansell for traditional and Brian Connely for nontraditional.Judges Choice:• Chili winners: Matt Coccio for nontraditional and Randy Lohr for traditional• Boilo winners: Adam Smarr for traditional and Bill Navitky for nontraditional.