Thanks everyone for another unbelievable McPherson Town Chili Cook-off!. We had a super field of 15 entries.

Thai Fusion Chili took the gold this year. The not-now-secret ingredients were peanut butter and chocolate. Who can go wrong with that? So close to the top overall voting was an exquisite Turkish 7 Spice Chili that took the silver ladle and Bison and Beer Chili took the bronze. A Lentil and Sweet Potato Chili won the first green ladle ever presented in the new vegetarian category.

Congratulations winners! And thanks again to everyone who came to share another great evening with friends and neighbors. Already looking forward to next year!

Residents gathered in the McPherson Town park for a movie night in September and again in October for the Ohio State vs. Penn State football game. A great time was had by all! We hope to continue this tradition in 2015.

Over 20 neighbors joined forces for the annual spring and alley cleanup on May 31. Brush, bulk trash and other large items were removed across the neighborhood, in addition to sprucing up streets. Thanks to all who participated!

Thank you to EVERYONE who made this year’s home tour a big success! Thank you to our Tour Sponsor, RTA and to our Promotional Partner, Dayton Performing Arts Alliance. Also thanks to our individual home sponsors, Requarth-Supply One, Scarff’s Nursery & Landscape, Kamela & Co. Realty, Habitat for Humanity, Oregon Printing, Ed Smith Flowers, Jimmie’s Ladder 11, Roost Modern Italian Restaurant, The Wine Gallery, Jey Ellis & Evelyn Davidson/Coldwell Banker-Heritage Realtors, and Lucky’s Taproom & Eatery. Thanks to our other advertisers, all the MANY neighborhood volunteers, and especially to ALL our guests who allowed us to share our beautiful historic neighborhood with them! We enjoyed every minute!

About 20 volunteers showed up to perform the annual McPherson Town neighborhood cleanup. Common areas were weeded, bulk trash was gathered from alleys, trees were trimmed and much more. Thanks so much for all who contributed their morning to make the neighborhood look so good!

The Great Miami River plays a significant role in the lives of McPherson Town residents. It is only fitting that a group of us volunteer time to keep it clean. More than 15 residents participated in the annual Five Rivers MetroParks Adopt-a-Park event, designed to make volunteers environmental stewards for a day. Many bags of trash and recyclables were picked up from the river banks in an effort to improve the health of the river corridor for both wildlife and people of the region. Many thanks to those who made it out, despite the chilly and damp weather!

A team of McPherson Town neighbors were part of the more than 300 people that volunteered about 900 hours of their time to work the inaugural First Four Festival in Dayton’s Oregon District.  The festival celebrated “Selection Sunday” as well as the city hosting the first round of the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Thousands of people kicked off “March Madness” at the event…and enjoyed an amazing spring day to watch basketball in the streets of our city!

After watching all the fun happening on the ice over at the RiverScape MetroPark Ice Rink last year, a group of McPherson Town residents decided to jump in and start their own broomball team, the Lucky McPeeps. Their 30-minute games are played Monday nights between 6 and 8 p.m. until Feb. 22. Come out and cheer them on!

When the circuit breakers tripped as the 16th crockpot was plugged in we absolutely knew we had a night for the books! An additional extension cord off another circuit allowed for a few more last arrivals to be plugged in. Altogether we finished the evening with a record-breaking 20 entries in the 5th Annual McPherson Town Chili Cook-off.

We had some unbelievably delicious entries this year. There was something for every herbivore, omnivore and diehard carnivore. (Hey, we have a very inclusive neighborhood.) A mini-theme developed this year with a few recipes featuring pineapple.

Taking home the coveted gold ladle was “Pollo Tomatillo Yo. Yo.” chili.  Silver went to “Jalisco Pork Chili Verde.” And a tie resulted in two bronze ladles being awarded—a cook-off first. “Occupy Dayton OWS” and “Aloha Maui Chicken Chili” were separated by nary a bean in the voting. Congratulations all!

But again, the real winner was our neighborhood. We may have been able to fit a few more people in, but we’d have been hard pressed to squeeze much more fun out of an evening with our neighbors.