Hi CFMC Members –

I hope everyone is staying warm in what seems like an unusually cold winter. I am currently on a long-term Grandpa assignment in Bel Air, Maryland where it is a bit colder. I am truly looking forward to returning to Wilmington on March 10^th.

Congratulations again to our chili cookoff winners: John McLendon, Gina Schiess and Mary Sue Wahl. Also, I would like to thank all of our other chefs and participants. It was a fun time, and I think everyone enjoyed tasting the variety of chilis. Maybe now we need to look into another competition – any suggestions?

It looks like the next event (other than the monthly coffee social on March 8^th) will be the Southern Farm Days Show in Lake Waccamaw. While the show is on March 14^th, 15^th, and 16^th, we are looking at attending as a group on Saturday, March 15^th. See upcoming events for more details later in the newsletter.

We are still looking for ideas for outings in the upcoming future months. We were hoping to schedule an outing to Little Switzerland, but we have verified that several of the roads, in particular the Diamondback (route 226A), are closed because of the flooding from hurricane Helene.  One of the goals of the trip was to be able to drive the Diamondback with its 190 curves within 12 miles so we will have to revisit that trip at a future date.

Since I’m on my grandpa assignment, I will miss the March 8^th coffee social. I think Ken Schiess is working with Stevenson-Hendrick Mazda to have the coffee social at their facility on Market Street and I believe there will be further info on that later in the newsletter. Thanks to Ken for coordinating this activity.

That’s all I have right now, see you at a future club event.

Rick Judson