A continuation of our new weekly series, “This Week in Social Media” followed Ithacans’ tweets about the 15th Annual Great Downtown Ithaca Chili Cook-off.

Despite the cold, hundreds of people, including locals, students and alumni came out for the annual festival where more than 30 restaurants competed for the titles of best meat or best vegetarian chili. During the day, there were also events such as the “Hot Pepper Showdown,” a mustache contest, karaoke and the “Chili Olympics.” In the end, Mia Restaurant won first place for best meat chili, and Taste of Thai Express took the win for best vegetarian chili. In non-chili related categories, Life’s So Sweet won in the “other” category, and Cortland Beer Company won for best beverage.

The Ithaca community took to Twitter to share their excitement for the festival, share pictures, and offer their analysis of which restaurant had the best chili.
The following is a selection of tweets from the Ithaca community in response to the festival.