CASPER, Wyo. -- Picture the scene: It's raining outside. The sky is gray, cool, quiet, soft. It's mid-afternoon and there's a fireplace roaring. You're with your best friends, or your family, or both, gathered around a board game. Maybe it's Monopoly. Maybe it's the Game of Life. It could be Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders. The game itself doesn't matter. What matters is that you're together -- playing, laughing, enjoying each other's company.

From the kitchen, mom or dad or grandma appears with a giant vat of the best-smelling chili you've ever had. It's the perfect dish for the perfect day; something that fills your stomach and warms your soul.

It's that moment, that day, that feeling that the American Petroleum Institute strives to replicate each year with the Brian Scott Memorial API Chili Cookoff.

For 32 years, the American Petroleum Institute has partnered with businesses and vendors from all over Casper (and beyond) to put on one of the year's most memorable (and delicious) events. It's the 32nd Annual API Chili Cookoff, happening at The Ford Wyoming Center, and it's a chance for people of all ages to "Network and Chili."

Best of all? This year's theme is "Board Games," which provides plenty of imagination ammunition to the more creative among us.

"This year's theme is board games," said Max Renton, API Board chairman, "so we're really looking forward to seeing what the people are able to come up with, in terms of costumes and booth decorations and things like that. It always surprises me just how creative people are, and what they end up coming up with, and just all of the surprises that people think up."

The API Chili Cookoff, as in years past, will feature 44 different teams competing to determine who is the best of the best. Teams will compete in both red and green chili categories for first place, second place, third place and "People's Choice." The money raised at this event goes to several local charities and nonprofit organizations across Casper. It's a way for the API to give back to the community. It's a chance to say thank you, and, more than anything, it's an opportunity for friends, neighbors and colleagues to spend time together over a bit of chili and a board game.

"The coolest part about this is that the face of the industry is on this event," said Bruce Poulos, API Board member and chairman of the API Chili Cookoff this year. "That's where the money is coming from. The teams are paying to participate in this, and then that money is getting spread throughout the community to the donor recipients that the API gives to. So that part is obviously the most rewarding thing for those of us on the board; just seeing the good that this industry can do."

And the industry -- oil and gas in general, but the American Petroleum Institute specifically -- does a lot of good. Throughout the last 30-plus years, the API has partnered with the people of Casper to raise money for some of the city's most important organizations.

"There are a little under 20 different charities that are recipients of the money that we raise," Renton said. "These organizations are pivotal. They make a huge difference in this state. These are organizations like the Jason's Friends Foundation, Make-A-Wish Wyoming, the Wyoming Rescue Mission and more. That's the reason we have this event, to get those guys more funding from our industry so that they can do their job and help the community."

The API has sponsored lunches for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming. It's helped wipe out school lunch debt. It's sponsored "Free Skate" days at the David Street Station ice rink. It has done a lot of good for a lot of different people and organizations.

The API Chili Cookoff benefits organizations including, among others:

"Jason's Friends Foundation has partnered with the API Chili Cookoff for over 20 years," said Christine Robinson, the organization's executive director. "We have managed the People's Choice Booth, and our volunteers look forward to this event every year. The donation received directly benefits the 155 families enrolled in our program."

155 families in Natrona County and beyond. That's how many people the Chili Cookoff has benefitted, and that's just via one organization! There are countless others, such as Make-a-Wish Wyoming.

"At Make-A-Wish Wyoming, we have been fortunate to partner with API for over 25 years," said Make-A-Wish Wyoming's CEO, Morgan Poloncic. "We are so grateful for the continued support, and the opportunity to be a part of such an incredible event! The funds we've received over the years have helped us grant dozens of wishes of Wyoming children battling critical illnesses. Thank you to all who are a part of the API Chili Cookoff for helping us bring hope and joy at a time when it is needed most for the children we serve!"

It's not just the American Petroleum Institute that makes it possible for these organizations to serve their community; it's the community itself. Countless people gather at the Ford Wyoming Center to cook up their best chili -- whether it's red or green -- and spend time with their neighbors, all while raising thousands of dollars for Casper's biggest charities.

These organizations benefit every year from the money raised at the API Chili Cookoff. And the amount raised is a testament to not only the American Petroleum Institute, or even the chili cookoff itself, but also each and every person who attends the event.

"Everything that we've been able to do, that's all come from the donations of the people that come to this thing," Poulos shared. "I think a lot people look at it as 'Oh, we're going to go to the chili cookoff and hang out with some friends.' It's a cool time a year to gather with people and spend some money. But that money gets compiled into an account that we have and then, over the next year, we spread that out to all of these different organizations."

Since 2000, the API has raised over $2 million for Wyoming charities. In 2024, the American Petroleum Institute donated over $100,000 to local charities as well as $35,000 in local scholarships.

The API's Brian Scott Memorial Chili Cookoff is a community event, in the truest sense of the word. When it comes to community, there may be no better example than Casper and the people who make it up. Friends, neighbors, colleagues, family -- at events like these, Casper's people spend time together. They eat together. They laugh together. And, this year, they'll play together. Attendees of the event will gather around a board game (or, more accurately, a lot of board games) and they'll create some memories. There will be music, and snacks, and beer -- and chili. Always chili. This year, the chili cookoff is Casper's biggest "game night," and the entire community is invited.

The 32nd Annual Brian Scott Memorial API Chili Cookoff is happening on Saturday, Feb. 22 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Ford Wyoming Center. The event will present a cash raffle, with a grand cash prize of $10K, a second-place prize of $1,500 and five other $500 cash prizes. Two different firearms will be raffled off as well. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased in advance at ticketmaster.com or at the box office on the day of the event. Tickets are just $12 per person, and kids ages 3 and under get in free. For more information, visit the API website.