Page Two

Thousands came, despite overcast skies and intermittent drizzle, despite the confusion related to a new site, despite a day with precious little promise of sunshine. The periodic short outbreaks of rain seemed to drive very few away at first, and still more people kept coming. A public of hot sauce aficionados -- drenched or dry under umbrellas -- just couldn't stay away from the Sixth Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival held at Central Park (38th & Lamar), co-sponsored by Central Market, 107.1 KGSR-FM, Shiner Bock, and Guiltless Gourmet. Bowls of hot sauce were everywhere. And chips... and more hot sauce. Things were a little chaotic, long lines leading in every direction, but that would have been worked out. Instead, it started pouring and continued pouring through the middle of the afternoon. Still, people persevered, making their best efforts at dipping soggy chips into rows of hot sauce practically consumed by showers.

Planning to leave, I told Elizabeth Derczo, who produced the event for the Chronicle, that if it kept raining for another half-hour, she should cancel the event.

Fortunately the judges and preliminary judges were ensconced upstairs in the Central Market Cooking School, away from the rain. The judges were an impressive group, including Mark Miller (Coyote Cafe), David Garrido (Jeffrey's), Cheryl and Bill Jamison (The Border Cookbook), Dave DeWitt (Chile Pepper Magazine), Jay McCarthy (executive chef Central Market), Park Kerr (The El Paso Chile Company's Texas Border Cookbook) and Ricardo Muñoz, a well-respected Mexican chef. The group was led by Hot Sauce mastermind, former Chronicle food editor, and still regular contributor Robb Walsh, who won the 1996 James Beard Journalism Award for work done for American Way magazine. The preliminary group of judges were equally impressive but in more mysterious and mythic ways. Over 300 hot sauces were entered and the judges were working their way through. Outside, the rain was doing its best to squelch the chile heat.

I left. It was still raining a half-hour later, so Elizabeth told people it was over. People stayed. They stayed until it stopped raining and then they stayed some more. More people kept arriving, while some left. The judges picked winners and remarkably, many people, despite the monsoon, had a good time.

The Chronicleis constant- ly getting compliments on its web site (/). People mention it to me from all over the country, and an old friend just used it to track me down. In last month's Texas Monthly our site was named one of the 100 most interesting web sites in Texas. In the current issue of Wired the Mister Smarty Pants column and archives receive some very kind words. The website is run, parented, cajoled, and designed by the amazing Laxman Gani, who on no budget and less sleep, manages to regularly make miracles. Mr. Smarty Pants is, of course, R. U. Steinberg, whose old friend, and our old friend, Mike Godwin, deserves congrats for making Texas Monthly's list of the 20 most impressive, intriguing and influential Texans of 1996. Godwin, one of the old Daily Texan/CinemaTexas/Raul's crowd, is staff counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a legendary cyberspace free speech pioneer. Talking about the past, next week marks our 15th anniversary. Take that as a warning. n