Havelock Chili Festival Committee Pauses Annual Chili Festival to Focus on Future Growth

HAVELOCK, NC — August 14, 2026 — The Havelock Chili Festival Committee has made the difficult but necessary decision to postpone the annual Havelock Chili Festival until 2027.

This festival, Havelock’s largest annual community event, has been a beloved tradition since 1981, and our team cares deeply about its place in the Havelock community. However, our current volunteer committee lacks the hands needed to successfully plan, run and execute the high-quality event our neighbors expect and deserve.

To best serve our community in the long run, we are choosing to take a step back this year. We will focus our limited volunteer energy on strengthening our internal foundation, updating our organization's governance, and completing necessary internal administrative reviews.

"Missing this year's festival is not what we had planned for 2026," said Sandy Cence, Advertising & Marketing Chair for the Havelock Chili Festival Committee. "However, our priority has to be the health and longevity of the organization. Taking this time to rest, restructure, and sort out our behind-the-scenes administrative needs ensures we can bring the festival back stronger and better than ever in 2027."

The committee is deeply grateful for the decades of support from local businesses, cooks, volunteers, and attendees. We look forward to welcoming everyone back to the cook-off Saturday, October 16, 2027. Registered 2026 vendors and sponsors will receive full refunds.

For future updates and event announcements, please visit our Facebook page: Havelock Chili Festival or our website [https://chilifestival.org/].

Community members interested in joining the all-volunteer Havelock Chili Festival Committee to help plan the next festival can email havelockchilicommittee@outlook.com. Please use subject line: VOLUNTEER

The Havelock Chili Festival Committee is a small, all-volunteer organization dedicated to bringing the Havelock community together through community service, good food, friendly competition, and celebration. 

Due to the success of the 2025 event and our generous sponsors, vendors, chili cooks and visitors, we were able to award over $23,000 in community grants to a wide variety of organizations serving our local veterans, youth, and Havelock at large, including $3,500 in scholarships to seven Havelock 2026 graduates. 

The $23,000 awarded for 2025 brings the total to $63,000 donated to the Havelock Community from the past three Havelock Chili Festivals and $112,000 in the past nine Festivals.