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Community
Sponsorships
Sunny Skies Bring Record Crowd to 14th Annual Chili Cook-Off
More than 12,000 attendants and 2,000 gallons of chili served
Superb weather and a true love of chili attracted thousands of chiliheads to Adado Riverfront Park in downtown Lansing this evening for the 14th Annual BWL Chili Cook-Off. More than 12,000 people attended the annual event, which benefits the Sparrow Foundation, the Hope Scholars Connections Program and Impression 5 Science Center/Adopt-A-River.
“A combination of perfect weather, fabulous turnout and the fact that there were more vendors than ever before made this year’s Cook-Off one of the best yet,” said BWL Communications Director Mark Nixon. “It was really great to see so many people come out to support three great charities.”
Fifty different Lansing-area restaurants, non-profits, businesses and amateur chefs combined to make approximately 2,000 gallons of chili. Vendors competed in nine different categories in hopes of being awarded “People’s Choice Best Overall Chili.” The People’s Choice award is determined via ballots given to event attendees. For all other chili categories, local celebrity judges determined the winners.
This year’s judges included: Lansing Police Chief Mark Alley, Lansing City Council Member Kathie Dunbar and City Council President Derrick Quinney, Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope, radio personality Walt Sorg, Impression 5 Science Center Board President Jeff Maloney, as well as Andrea Price and Elizabeth Hernandez of Sparrow Healthcare.
This year’s winners are as follows:
People’s Choice – Best Overall Chili
Gold Ladle: Lansing Lugnuts
Silver Ladle: Lansing Fire Department Bronze Ladle: Harrison Road House
Best Restaurant Chili
Gold Ladle: Red Robin Silver Ladle: Harrison Road House
Bronze Ladle: Applebee’s
Best Corporate Chili
Gold Ladle: The Gallery at MSU
Silver Ladle: Balloon’s Galore Bronze Ladle: Marine Corps League
Best Meatless Chili
Gold Ladle: Soup to Nuts Bistro Silver Ladle: Texas Road House Bronze Ladle: The Firm
Best Amateur Chili
Gold Ladle: Shannon Shavers
Mo’ Hotter, Mo’ Better – Hottest Chili Award
Gold Ladle: Mayfair Bar Silver Ladle: Lansing Teen Challenge Bronze Ladle: Paramount Coffee
The Greater Lansing Convention & Visitors Bureau awarded the Red Hot Hospitality Award to the CVB member organization that was most fun and welcoming.
Red Hot Hospitality Award:
Gold Ladle: Dublin Square Silver Ladle: Jackson National Life
Bronze Ladle: Beggar’s Banquet
Most Creative Chili Booth
Gold Ladle: Jackson National Life with "Retirement Beach Bash"
Silver Ladle: Harrison Roadhouse with "Weird Science"
Bronze Ladle: The State Room with "Michigan State"
Most Creative Chili Name
Gold Ladle: The Firm with "Fire in the Hole"
Silver Ladle: Radisson Hotel with "Blazing Saddles"
Bronze Ladle: The State Room with "Sparty's Rock 'em Sock 'em Chorizo Chili"
In addition to the chili, this year’s Cook-Off included live performances from Lansing bands 496 West and La Inspiracion. Attendees were also able to burn off their chili calories on a mechanical bull and an inflatable obstacle course and climbing wall.
The BWL would like to thank participating restaurants, businesses, sponsors and thousands of Chili Cook-Off attendees for another great year!
Lansing Lugnuts
Lansing's Hometown Utility supports its Hometown sports
team. The BWL is a proud sponsor of the Lansing
Lugnuts, Lansing's Class A professional baseball team.
The Lugnuts play 70 home games each spring and summer in beautiful
new Oldsmobile Park, located in the heart of downtown Lansing.
Construction of the new ball park has been an important driver
of downtown development, and each year the Lugnuts draws thousands
of fans downtown to enjoy the fun and excitement of professional
baseball entertainment.
Before
every home game kids and adults collect free player autographs
in the BWL-sponsored autograph area along the right field
line. Special events during the baseball season include the
BWL Hometown Power Night, when area softball teams send their
best sluggers to compete in a home run derby.
Silver Bells in the City
Silver Bells in the City ushers
in the holiday season in mid-Michigan each November. The BWL
is one of two major corporate sponsors of the event, held
the Friday before Thanksgiving. More than 50,000 people throng
to Lansing's downtown area to view a spectacular lighted parade
and fireworks, enjoy carolers and free horse-and-buggy rides,
and to witness the lighting of Michigan's official holiday
tree.
Junior Achievement
For more than 35 years, Junior Achievement of Mid Michigan
has partnered with business people and educators to inspire
young people to become entrepreneurs and future business leaders.
Through JA's classroom programs in Kindergarten through twelfth
grade, students learn basic business and economic concepts
from business volunteers who reaffirm everyday lessons and
encourage the student to stay in school.
Last year, JA provided 6,600 students with
hands-on, activity-oriented programs designed to promote a
fundamental understanding of the free enterprise system -
tools that tomorrow's employees will need to lead successful
and fulfilling lives.
The Board of Water & Light supports Junior
Achievement in the following ways:
- Maintains a seat on the local governing
Board of Junior Achievement
- Supplies 8 - 10 classroom volunteers annually
- Actively participates on fund raising committees
- Financially sponsors classroom programs
Lineman's Rodeo
The Board of Water and Light is
the "host" utility for the Michigan Lineman's Rodeo,
an annual event where lineworkers apply their skills in friendly
competition. From climbing poles to performing the simulated
rescue of an injured worker, the rodeo offers an exciting
round of events to test the lineworker's abilities.
Speed is important, as the teams strive to
carry out each event in the fastest possible time. But safety
and accuracy are even more critical, because the eagle-eyed
judges are quick to note and penalize the participant, if
they fail to perform the event correctly.
In 2004, the Michigan Lineman's Rodeo drew
more than 50 participants representing a number of Michigan's
utilities and line construction companies. Many of these lineworkers
view this regional event as preliminary to competing in the
International Lineman's Rodeo and Expo held in Kansas City,
MO in the fall.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT INFO ON INTERNATIONAL LINEMAN'S RODEO
& EXPO
Water Tapping Team
BWL Women's and Men's Water Tapping Teams Take 1st and 2nd
in National Competition

Two Lansing Board of Water and Light teams competed in the
2002 American Water Works Association's (AWWA) National Conference
in New Orleans, June 12-16, after each took first place in
their division in State trials.
After taking third in the preliminary round
at the nationals, the BWL Women's Team trimmed eight seconds
off their time in the second run to win top honors with a
time of two minutes, 20 seconds. The BWL Men's Team ranked
first in the preliminary round at the Nationals with a time
of one minute, 24 seconds. They were edged out by just six
seconds in the second round to finish in second place.
This is the second year BWL women competed
in the tapping contest and the second year sent to represent
Michigan in the national event.
It was the 11th year straight the BWL's men's
tapping team captured the state first place title, earning
the right to represent the utility and Michigan in national
competition.
BWL Community Events Committee
The
Board of Water and Light Employee Community Events Committee
was formed in 1989. The committee was organized to give BWL
employees an opportunity to become involved in various Lansing
community activities as a group.
Over the years, the committee has recruited
employees to participate in charitable and community events
such as Make a Difference Day, the Junior Achievement Bowl
a Thon, Boys and Girls Club activities, Christmas in April
and local parades.
The Community Events Committee also holds
monthly lunchtime Hot Dog Cook Outs at the BWL in the summer
months to raise money for local charities. Proceeds from last
year's cookouts amounted to $2000.00. Money raised went to
charities such as Cystic Fibrosis, Breast Cancer Awareness
and the CACS Walk for Warmth.
Planet Walk
Walk a scale
model of our solar system along the Lansing River Trail
Installed in 1993, in cooperation with the Lansing Board of
Water and Light, Impression 5 Science Center, and the City
of Lansing, the Planet Walk is a scale model of the solar
system that stretches almost two miles along Lansing's River
Trail.
It begins with a 20 inch sun, located outside
the Impression 5 Science Center. At Planet Walk scale, Earth
is depicted as the size of a pencil eraser on a plaque mounted
179 feet away from the Sun. Jupiter, the largest planet, is
shown as the size of an orange and is located 932 feet from
the Sun. Pluto, the most distant planet from the Sun, appears
as the size of a pinhead, and is located almost two miles
away, near the entrance to Potter Park Zoo. Click
here to view Planet Walk marker depicting Saturn. It will take from 45-60 minutes walking time to travel the
solar system one way. You'll stroll over five billion scale
miles in less than an hour.
In fall of 2002, the Board of Water and Light
and local marketing firm, Pace and Partners, funded a new
updated Planet Walk exhibit. The enhanced new exhibit features
colorful plaques displaying each planet to scale, along with
planet facts, a map of the entire exhibit, and photographs
from the Hubble telescope.
Over the years, the exhibit has seen its share
of visitors, many of whom were already experienced space travelers.
The original exhibit was dedicated on October 19, 1993, by
Jack Lousma, Michigan native and Apollo and Skylab astronaut,
who led the first group of students and local space buffs
for a stroll from Sun to Pluto with interpretive comments
and stories along the way. Other NASA notables have also led
the Planet Walk event, including Dr. Jerry Linenger, a space
shuttle astronaut, who trained and worked with Russian cosmonauts
aboard space station Mir.
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