Sedalia Center

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The Sedalia Center proudly promotes the visual and performing arts by offering programs, cultural festivals and gallery exhibitions.

The Sedalia Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the cultural arts in Central Virginia.

10/14/2026

It's almost Chili time....!! 🌶️✨😍🔥🫘🖤❤️ While we keep the pot hot and stir up some good ol' fashion competition, we thought we'd introduce this year's incredible CHILI TEAMS. 💪🔥🌶️

We'd like to give a warm welcome back to Diggin' Good Chili! They're not new to the Chili Cookoff world, as they snatched up the award for Best Presentation in 2024, and took home 2nd place for Best Presentation in 2025. They're back at it again this year to give it all they've got, and they plan to make this a tradition for years to come. The team is made up of a father and son duo, and a best girl friend duo. They're representing Mitchell’s Excavating LLC for all of your dirt moving needs, so rest assured they'll be moving their chili to your belly one scoop at a time. Come on out and get ya a big ol scoop of Diggin' Good Chili!!! 🚜✨🌶️

The 29th Annual Buzzy Coleman Chili Cook Off is NEXT SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24TH!!! 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Get YOUR tickets on our website, at the Sedalia Center main office, or from the friendly faces at the Bedford Area Welcome Center for just $15 each, or $20 at the gate. ⚡️🎟️ As always, kids 12 and under get in free. ✨🌶️ https://www.sedaliacenter.org/chili-cookoff-2026/

🙏🏻 And a big thank-you to the local businesses helping make this year’s Chili Cook-Off possible:
🌶️ $1,000 People’s Choice Award — Peaksview Dental
🌶️ $1,000 Judges’ Choice Award — Coleman-Adams Construction Inc.
🌶️ $500 Best Presentation — Tracy Ellett, Realtor Keller Williams
🌶️ $500 Cook’s Choice Award — Wooldridge Heating Air Electrical Plumbing Inc.
🎶 Live Music Sponsor — Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Dawson Ford Garbee & Co., Realtors
❤️ Event Sponsor — Bank of the James

10/08/2026

It's a chili miracle! 🙏🌶️ Chili Team registration is STILL OPEN and we can take a FEW MORE TEAMS for this year's big hootenanny, the 29th Annual Buzzy Coleman Chili Cook Off on Saturday, October 24th!! 🚨 Team registration is FREE and easy to complete. Every team that registers will receive:

🎟️ FOUR season passes to the 2027 Sedalia Center event season,
💪 bragging rights the size of Bedford County,
🔥 FOUR blazing hot, special edition BANDANAS, the latest in Sedalia swag, 💅
💰 and, oh right, the chance to win UP TO $3,000 in CASH PRIZES, baby!! 🚨🚨🚨

Get your team on the list of Chili Team legends today and let's get cookin': https://www.sedaliacenter.org/chili-cookoff-2026/ 🌶️🌶️🌶️

While the competition stacks up and with the Chili Cook Off just a couple weeks away, we thought we'd introduce our amazing Chili Teams themselves, starting with our official Team Captains, Bim and Cathi Mason. ❤️‍🔥

Bim and Cathi have been involved in every Chili Cookoff since we started this event 29 years ago. Their primary role as Captains is to make sure all of our chili teams have everything they need to make their very best chili for the judges and the hungry crowds — and to make sure we all have a good time while doing it all. Bim says one of his favorite memories from the early days of the Chili Cookoff was of Buzzy Coleman himself, his contagious laughter and beaming smile, even during a windstorm that blew away their tent and knocked over one of their chili pots! Competing as a team, Bim and Cathi have won the Chili Cookoff a total of three times. We are grateful to have them lead our teams again this year with their spirit of fun and nostalgia into what's shaping up to be one of the best Cookoffs we've ever had.

Thank you, Bim and Cathi!!! ❤️🌶️ Stay tuned for more Chili team updates!!

10/07/2026

Music is a big part of what we do at Sedalia, so at the Buzzy Coleman Chili Cook Off, the music starts when the gates open and keeps going all day long including right in the middle of the Chili Field. 🎶🌶️

Here’s who’s playing at the 29th Annual Buzzy Coleman Chili Cook-Off on Saturday, October 24:

🎻 11:00–1:00 — Baygrass Bluegrass Band, Pavilion
🎻 1:00–3:00 — Holcomb Rock Quartet, Chili Field
🎶 1:00–3:00 — Double Dog Dare, Pavilion
🎶 3:30–6:00 — Coleman Brothers Band, Pavilion

So whether you’re making the rounds tasting chili, hanging out under the Pavilion, or wandering through the Chili Field, there’ll be live music happening all around you. 💃

🎟️ Get your tickets in advance for just $15 on our website or at the Bedford Welcome Center (beginning Thursday- cash or check only). Tickets are $20 at the gate on event day.
Tickets: https://www.sedaliacenter.org/chili-cookoff-2026/

🙏🏻 And a big thank-you to the local businesses helping make this year’s Chili Cook-Off possible:
🌶️ $1,000 People’s Choice Award — Peaksview Dental
🌶️ $1,000 Judges’ Choice Award — Coleman-Adams Construction Inc.
🌶️ $500 Best Presentation — Tracy Ellett, Realtor Keller Williams LYH Homes
🌶️ $500 Cook’s Choice Award — Wooldridge Heating Air Electrical Plumbing Inc.
🎶 Live Music Sponsor — Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Dawson Ford Garbee & Co., Realtors
❤️ Event Sponsor — Bank of the James

10/06/2026

We had SUCH a lovely time with Max and Jen from Little Otter Flower Farm this past Sunday at our Flower Arranging workshop! 💐😍💗 Thank you to everyone for coming — it was a truly special Sunday afternoon spent under cloudy Sedalia skies, playing with this bountiful harvest and relishing in this calming artform. As Ralph Waldo Emerson famously said, "The earth laughs in flowers," and that couldn't have felt more right. Thank you, Little Otter Flower Farm, for putting smiles on our faces, filling our day with joy, and sending us home with our very own laughter-in-a-mason-jar. 🥰🌸🌈

Stay tuned for our next Living Arts Program, Winter Herbal Magic with Dawn Gardner from Wild Violet Herbs, on November 15th! 🧡🌿

10/02/2026

Thank you so much to Dora Butler for sharing her talents with us this past weekend! We had such a fun time at the Textured Acrylic Painting workshop, where many a mini masterpiece was made. 👩‍🎨🖼️✨ The fine arts of florals abound this fall — join us this Sunday, October 4th, for Flower Arranging with Little Otter Flower Farm! 💐 In this special workshop, learn from Max, a young adult with Autism and the artist behind Little Otter, as he shares his secrets to making beautiful bouquets, aka "riots of color."

Reserve a seat for you and a loved one for this next Living Arts program today, and get your ticket online: https://www.sedaliacenter.org/flower-arranging-2/ 🎟️🍁🧡

09/28/2026

Turns out, putting a bluegrass band in the middle of a chili field is a very good idea. 🎻🌶️

One of the most talked-about moments from last year’s Buzzy Coleman Chili Cook Off was Holcomb Rock Quartet setting up right smack in the middle of the Chili Field and playing while the whole place buzzed around them.

So yes — Holcomb Rock Quartet is heading back to the middle of the Chili Field this year, and we’re thinking this may just have to become a Sedalia tradition.

Come hungry. Come ready to vote. And maybe be ready to find yourself standing ten feet from a bluegrass band while somebody hands you a cup of chili. 🌶️🍻🎻

🌶️ Saturday, October 24, 2026
🌶️ 29th Annual Buzzy Coleman Chili Cook Off

SCHEDULE:
11:00 Gates Open
11:00-1:00 Baygrass Bluegrass Band (Pavilion)
12:00 Chili Tasting begins
1:00-3:00 Holcomb Rock Quartet (Chili Field)
1:00-3:00 Double Dog Dare(Pavilion)
3:00-6:00 Coleman Brothers Band(Pavilion)
4:15 Chili Awards

Save a few bucks for Chili! 🌶️ Get your tickets in advance for just $15 on our website. Tickets are $20 at the gate on event day!

Tickets: https://www.sedaliacenter.org/chili-cookoff-2026/

09/24/2026

Not only will Chili Teams compete for up to $3,000(💰!!!) in cash prizes at the 29th Annual Buzzy Coleman Chili Cook Off on October 24, but every team that enters will receive 🔥 FOUR FREE SEASON PASSES 🔥 to all 2027 Sedalia Center events!! 😍🎟️🌹 This is one blazing deal, folks, and Chili Team registration is FREE and still open for a limited time! Think your chili is hot stuff?? Register your Chili Team by October 5th and bask in the glory of the spiciest Sedalia tradition! 🌶️🌶️🌶️

CASH PRIZES!
💵 $1,000, PEOPLE’S CHOICE: the crowd’s favorite chili
💵 $1,000, JUDGES’ CHOICE: determined by judges
💵 $500, BEST PRESENTATION: lookin’ good is almost as important as tasting good!
💵 $500, COOK’S CHOICE: a brand-new award chosen by the chili teams themselves! Each team gets to vote for their favorite fellow competitor. 😉

RULES AND GUIDELINES:
🌶️ It is FREE to register your chili team.
🌶️ Each Team Captain will need to fill out a Temporary Food Establishment Application no later than Monday, October 5th. This must be done in order to participate. (Please see our website).
🌶️ Gates open at 11:00am. Chili tasting starts at high noon!
🌶️ Each team needs to make a minimum of 10 gallons of chili (yes, that’s a lot of chili).
🌶️ Each team should have a chili sample ready for judges’ tasting at 11:30am. Judging ends at 3:30pm.
🌶️ Every team that enters will get 4 free Sedalia Center season passes for the 2027 season!
event!

Cookin' up somethin' good?! Register online at: https://www.sedaliacenter.org/chili-cookoff-2026/

09/18/2026

Facebook got a little wonky on us the first time around and only showed a handful of these photos… so we’re trying this again because there are way too many good Chili Cook-Off memories not to share. 🌶️

The rumors are true: CHILI TEAM REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN for the 29th Annual Buzzy Coleman Chili Cook Off, Saturday, October 24th!! It's bound to be another big year, y'all! 🌶️✨⚡️

CASH PRIZES!
💵 $1,000, PEOPLE’S CHOICE: the crowd’s favorite chili
💵 $1,000, JUDGES’ CHOICE: determined by judges
💵 $500, BEST PRESENTATION: lookin’ good is almost as important as tasting good!
💵 $500, COOK’S CHOICE: a brand-new award chosen by the chili teams themselves! Each team gets to vote for their favorite fellow competitor. 😉

RULES AND GUIDELINES:
🌶️ It is FREE to register your chili team.
🌶️ Each Team Captain will need to fill out a Temporary Food Establishment Application no later than Monday, October 5th. This must be done in order to participate. (Please see our website).
🌶️ Gates open at 11:00am. Chili tasting starts at high noon!
🌶️ Each team needs to make a minimum of 10 gallons of chili (yes, that’s a lot of chili).
🌶️ Each team should have a chili sample ready for judges’ tasting at 11:30am. Judging ends at 3:30pm.
🌶️ Every team that enters will get 4 free Sedalia Center season passes for the 2027 season!
🌶️ Plus, each team is welcome to camp out at the Sedalia Center Friday (and/or Saturday) during the event!

Think your Chili Team is hot stuff?! Register online at: https://www.sedaliacenter.org/chili-cookoff-2026/

Address

1108 Sedalia School Road
Big Island, VA
24526

Telephone

+14342995080

Website

http://www.sedaliacenter.org/

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