Chili Open Golf Classic Canceled

Crystal Lake’s Annual Chili Open Golf Classic has been canceled for the first time since the park district has been running the event.

The historic blizzard, followed by unseasonably warm temperatures created unsafe conditions on the lake, said Joe Davison, recreation supervisor for the park district.

“We had a few of our maintenance department workers and our superintendent of recreation go out on the ice. It was cracking from them just walking on it and we didn’t think it was safe,” Davison said.

The golf classic was originally scheduled for Feb. 12, however, when workers went out on the lake to build the fairways, they discovered a thin layer of ice over a layer of water. The park rescheduled the event for Feb. 19, but the warm temperatures and melting ice, created unsafe conditions.

“We had it in January in past years and we didn’t have ice, so we had to move it to February. We had perfect weather, but the snowstorm really hurt us,” Davison said.

The park district is offering full refunds for golfers who registered.

This would have been the 41st  annual Chili Open, which  consists of two, nine-hole golf courses on the frozen lake.

The event started back in 1970, when a group of residents went out on the lake to make a golf course. Afterwards, they went to Haznow’s Restaurant for chili. Eventually the park took over the event and it grew.