Brews for a
Chili Night
ADDING HEAT AND HOPS TO HELP MT . LEBANON LIBRARY .
BY KATHY RUDOLPH
Taming the flame of a bowl of savory , spicy chili with an ice-cold beer is like peanut butter and jelly , cookies and milk , or macaroni and cheese — both taste better together .
“ It seems if you add beer to any event , everybody shows up ,” laughs M . A . Jackson , senior library assistant at Mt . Lebanon Public Library .
But Jackson and co-organizer James ( Bob ) Hagerty know how to host two annual beer-tasting fundraisers that rival a fun night out at the best breweries around Pittsburgh . Drawing 250 to 300 people each , and raising more than $ 12,000 annually for the library , the Beer Garden Bash ( held each August ) and Brews for a Chili Night ( coming up on Jan . 27 ) are on tap for another “ hoppy ” year . The funds go toward programming , new equipment , furniture and more .
According to Hagerty , who wrote about the history of the beer-tasting fundraisers , it all started with volunteer Mimi Ingalls .
After approval from the library ’ s then-director , Cindy Richey , Ingalls and another volunteer , Petra Fey , organized
Mt . Lebanon Library ’ s first beer-tasting fundraiser . About 95 people came and sampled European imports on an August evening in the library ’ s courtyard .
Deemed a success , Ingalls and a group of volunteers that included Jackson , Hagerty and others decided to host a repeat beer-tasting fundraiser in January amongst the library ’ s shelves . Jackson came up with the event name —“ Brews for a Chili Night ”— after the group decided to add chili to the menu .
Flash forward to almost nine years later , where both events are now hosted
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