Aug 1, 2022 4 min read

There will be a little friendly competition between Washington’s first responders this weekend.

The First Responders Kitchen Clash, sponsored by Don’s Appliances, is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 6 in the Main Street Pavilion, an event that will recognize first responders while raising money for charity.

“There’s a lot of incentive,” said Shana Brown, Main Street Manager. “Our first responders do so much for us every day, so (we thought) let’s do something for them. Let’s showcase them.”

Nate Mass, creator of the Facebook page, Washington PA Food Group, said there will be teams representing the city’s fire department, police department and Ambulance and Chair Emergency Medical Services. Two members of each department will be partnered with a cook and will have three hours to prepare two main dishes, two sides and one dessert.

“The title of the kitchen clash is Best Backyard Barbecue,” Mass said. “Three celebrity judges will have a scorecard. They’ll judge each person’s plate, and we’ll tally up the score to see who wins.”

Proceeds from the competition will be awarded to the winning team, to be donated to a charity of that department’s choice.

The celebrity judges will be Mike Travis, a sous chef with Elmhurst House of Friendship in Wheeling, W.Va., Abby O’Connell, who goes by #foodismysavior_pgh on Instagram, and Lee Drake, an executive sous chef with the Porch at Siena in Upper St. Clair.

The cooks will be Tony Panyanouvong with Team Fire; Chef Adam Dillon will lead Team Ambulance, and Nate Kepler will be the cook for Team Police.

Kepler, who said cooking is a hobby, will be entering his first competition.

“I’ve always wanted to do it, though,” he said. “Anything that gets people out of the house, especially post-COVID, to see what’s being done (is great). Hopefully, we can move it further and make Main Street even busier than it already is.”

The cooks are looking forward to getting together for a good cause and having some fun, but the competitive juices will be flowing.

“I have my hands full, but I’m definitely not going to shy away from trying to win this thing,” Kepler said.

Chris Richer, Washington fire chief, said there have been a couple of digs exchanged between the departments on social media.

“It’s all in good fun,” Richer said. “I think it’s fantastic for the city. It creates a buzz. It gets people out there involved in everything the city has to offer.”

Teams will be given distraction cards to try to affect the opposition. When a distraction is called for, the team’s cook will have to perform a task usually undertaken by a first responder. This leaves the team’s other members in charge.

“I wanted to throw some fun into it as well,” Mass said. “I’m going to use the crowd. We’re going to pick when people use distractions. Each team will have to do two distractions. It will just be something to throw them off. The first responders will have to take over for about 10 minutes while their head cook is going off and doing this event. “

There are plans for a Touch a Truck for kids, as well as a dunk tank, allowing the public to dunk local business owners. There also will be a Chinese auction, food vendors and raffle baskets.

“Anything we make money on is all going to go into the pot for the winner to pick which charity they want to donate it to,” Mass said. “If they want to donate to a couple of them, that’s fine.”

“That’s the important thing,” Richer added. “We typically focus on our Coats for Kids program. We’re always trying to raise money for that charity, but there are plenty of other options out there.”

Also, the winning department will receive $500, which came from an anonymous donor, to use at that department’s discretion.

“That goes directly to the first responders,” Mass said. “That’s food money for them if they want. They can use it for the house. They can do whatever they want with it; it’s their money.