ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Saturday, Sept. 27, will find much in the way of fun at Liberal‘s Light Park, and along with the Liberal Chamber of Commerce’s Duck Race Festival, Seward County United Way will providing some of its own fun for the day.
Through Sept. 22, United Way is taking registrations for its annual Chili and Taco Cook-off scheduled to take place from 11 to 1 p.m. Sept. 27 in Light Park.
Prizes of $300, $200 and $100 each will be given out in the chili and taco categories for first, second and third place respectively, all thanks to a new sponsor, For Custom Construction.
SCUW Director Patrica Fierro said she is looking for people to participate in the cookoff, including businesses and organizations.
“It’s a great team building activity, and lots of fun,” she said. “We’re encouraging the community to come out and bring their family and friends to come and support. It would be a nice turnout if we all did that.”
Fierro was hired as director in early 2025, and this will be her first time in charge of the cookoff. With that in mind, she is hoping for the best and continued improvement of what has already proven to be a success throughout its history.
“I’m hoping we have a good turnout,” she said. “The fact we’re giving prizes is going to be a big incentive for people to come out and participate and also bragging rights. Who doesn’t want to have the best taco or the best chili? Winning a trophy for that would be pretty amazing. Each restaurant would love to be able to showcase that and say they have the best tacos in town.”
Sept. 22 is also the day of the autumn equinox, marking the start of fall, and Fierro said the food served at the cookoff fits right into the season.
“Not everyone likes chili,” she said. “That’s why we’re bringing in the taco option. I’m not sure what the weather’s going to be like, but chili’s been around for so long that it would be odd not to have it. We want to continue with that tradition, but also bring in the tacos, and who doesn’t like a taco?”
Adding to the fun of this year’s cookoff, SCUW will be giving one lucky person a 2025 Jeep Wrangler, and Fierro said as Sept. 27 draws closer, excitement levels are increasing greatly.
“The fact someone will be winning the vehicle is pretty amazing,” she said. “We encourage people to continue buying tickets. They are for sale at many places here in town. All of the banks in Liberal are selling tickets. Stop by, show your support. All proceeds come to United Way to help out the agencies we are serving, which serve our communities, and you could possibly be utilizing those services.”
Fierro said ticket sales for the raffle are going very well, and she said many people can be heard saying they have the winning ticket. Winners do not have present at the time of the drawing, but Fierro encourages everyone to be present.
“We do encourage people to be there so we can have a crowd,” she said.
United Way likewise is inviting Jeep owners to bring their vehicles to Light Park to showcase them at the event.
“If you’re in a Jeep club and you would like to participate in that, we are also inviting everyone to come in,” Fierro said. “We’ve reached out to a couple of Jeep clubs in Wichita hoping they will come in, and we’ve tried to reach out to other Jeep clubs around Liberal so we can get in a new audience and have them participating in the Duck Race Festival for years to come. Jeeps and ducks go together.”
To register for the cookoff or for more information, go by the SCUW office in the Conestoga Building on North Kansas Avenue, text Fierro at 620-556-8941, call United Way at 620-624-5400, or message the Seward County United Way page on Facebook.
“There is a $25 entry fee,” she said. “There’s a lot of prizes and bragging rights.”
Fierro said she is excited for the upcoming Chili and Taco Cook-off
“I wish I could participate because I think I make killer chili, but I can’t,” she said. “We’ll see who has it.”
In August, United Way hosted its Stuff the Bus and Stuff a Box school supply drives, and Fierro said both went great.
“I’m really happy we had the community come in and support us at Walmart and Dillon’s on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” she said. “Thank you to our agencies who were able to come in and volunteer their hours to help us with those collections. We were able to school supplies to each of the schools, including Southwestern Heights. I’m very thankful to USD 480 in bringing us the school buses to have the collections in.”
SCUW also hosted its Back to School Fair in August. The event provided free physicals at Seward County Community College’s Student Health Center, and Fierro said she is grateful to the college for lending the facility for the event. She likewise felt the event was amazing.
“It facilitated the sports physicals so much,” she said. “Dr. Padilla was able to do 48 sports physicals.”
Fierro said all of the August events help with SCUW’s mission of providing help whenever they can.
“We couldn’t do this without our sponsors, without the help of everyone who is participating and who is supporting United Way in the projects we have,” she said.
Fierro said being to provide free physicals to students was particularly amazing to her.
“I’m very happy to be able to put these events together and creating that positive impact and helping families who are in need or kids who are uninsured or under insured, making sure they have what they need to be able to thrive and to be able to do great in school,” she said. “We want to have healthy kids, and being active in school and sports is a way to do that.”
Fall is typically the time when United Way starts its annual fundraising campaign, and Fierro said with events taking place often during the year, momentum is already being seen with the drive.
“They’re starting to pick up,” she said. “We had a couple of hiccups we encountered, and we needed to get something squared on before we could continue on with fundraising. We were able to get that taken care of, and now, we have a very busy year for the remainder of the year.”
Following the cookoff, United Way has several events planned for October, November and December, and Fierro said announcements of those events should be coming soon. She also said her short time as director has been a process to say the least.
“We’ll be notifying the community of what we have going,” she said. “I’m learning as I go, and as events pass, I see how I can improve, what works, what didn’t and making better decisions for next year. I always encourage constructive criticism. The only way I’m able to make things better is by hearing what the community has to say and how I can improve moving forward.”
Fierro said the momentum created this year should continue through the remainder of 2025.
“We had some hiccups, and we’re trying to catch up,” she said. “We’ll do a lot better towards the end of year with the Jeep raffle being at the end of September and the other things we have coming up in October, November.”
