1. Thursday, March 12,2009
PAGE 8
'Gunslinger' will join
fun at Chili Cook-off
BERNARDSVILLE - In addition would quot;act the partquot; of a gun-
to sampling spicy food and danc- slinging outlaw.
ing to hot music, residents at- They spent several weeks and
tending this year's quot;Chili Cook- more than' 40 hours designing,
offquot; fund-raiser will get to test building, testing and bringing
their gun-slinging skills against, their idea to reality. quot;Vealtown
a mean mechanical outlaw. Jessiequot; was thus born.
quot;Vealtown Jessie':' a life-size Vealtown was the original
robotic mannequin dressed as name of Bernardsville going
an old-western villain, will back to Colonial times.
make his debut on Saturday, The interactive robot was fit-
Aprtl Ia.atthe annual benefit ted with an actuating arm, imi-
bash thrown by the Somerset tation pistol and sensors to both
electronically fire and sense be-
Hills Education Foundation
ing quot;shot.quot;
(SHEF).
. The popular social event will The construction presented
be held from 6 to 10 p.m. at the many challenges for the design-
Upton Pyne Estate in ers, who had to program a se-
Bernardsville. quence that allowed quot;Vealtown
Virtual horse racing will also Jessiequot; to randomly draw with-
be a new attraction at the cook- in zero to 20 seconds for each
shot.
off, which last year raised more
than $120,000 for-the Somerset During the event, guests who
Hills Regional School District. . want to challenge Jessie will be
. As usual, attendees will also fitted with a belt, holster and toy
get to sample chili prepared by pistol also fitted with an elec-
tronic firing mechanism. They
more than 20 chef contestants
competing for the quot;Best Chili in will have six attempts to beat
Jessie to the draw. Their best
the Somerset Hillsquot; honor. Mu-
sical entertainment this year times will also be recorded for
will be provided by the band, all guests to see and challenge
HoiPolloi. themselves.
Vealtown Jessie will add a
Limited tickets are available
ranging from $90 to $200 per per- new wrinkle to an already-popu-
lar event. Now in its sixth year,
son.
According to a press release the cook-off attracted an esti-
mated 700residents last year.
'from SHEF, the idea to create
quot;Vealtown Jessiequot; originated . SHEF is a non-profit organi-
one Saturday in January when zation whose mission is to pro-
mote and provide educational
the sons of Bernardsville resi-
opportunities for thebenefit of
dents Vijay Singh and Brent Residentsattending this year's quot;ChiliCook-offquot;fund-raiser at the Up-
Laurin got together to play. Somerset Hills school children.
ton Estate in Bernardsvillewill have a chance to challenge quot;Vealtown
In the last three years alone
The two dads came up with
Jessie,quot; a mecbanical gun-slinger created just for the occasion. The
SHEF has contributed more
the idea to design and build a
annual benefit for the Somerset HillsSchoolDistrictwillbe held from
fun and safe interactive' game, than $220,000 to student technol-
ogy in the district.
where guests could test their 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 18. For more information visit the Som-
quick-draw skills in an old west- erset HillsEducation Foundation website at www.shefnj.org. '
For more informationon the Chili
ern shoot-out setting.
Cook-off download invitation,
orto an
They decided the guests need-
ed a proper challenger that visitwww.shefnj.org.