The World Cheese Dip Championship hosted annually in Little Rock is, if anything, only getting cheesier.
Two years ago, Justin Wise said the championship served about 2,500 cheese aficionados and novices. He said coordinators expected this year’s event, held at the Clinton Presidential Center, to draw double 2016’s numbers.
But Wise was wrong. This year’s championships drew an estimated 7,000-plus people, far outstripping expectations for the day.
The 70-degree October day was perfect for eating copious amounts of fresh, hot cheese dip, Wise said.
Participants in the lactose-full competition help raise money for Harmony Health Clinic, a nonprofit medical and dental service provider for uninsured and underinsured people in Pulaski County.
“We’re just connecting cheese-dip lovers to Harmony,” said Wise, the executive director of the Harmony Health Clinic. And the event “just keeps growing.”
Volunteer Lonnie Bradley, who worked in the people’s choice tent where nacho fans dropped tokens to vote for their favorite dip, said 16 vendors signed up for the 2017 championship.
This year, that number nearly doubled with 29 different booths set up — each carrying with them gallons and gallons of cheese, he said.
And with great cheese dip comes great quantities of tortilla chips, said Justin Buck, Harmony’s community engagement director. He said more than 80,000 tortilla chips were cut and fried for the event.
Read Sunday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more information.