Local Foundation to Host a Chili Fest

ZANESVILLE, OH — Colder weather is coming and that means it’s time for chili.

The Gant House Foundation is holding their annual Chili Fest. Money from this event will support the Gant House Foundation. Gant House Foundation President, Todd Ware, talked about the event in detail.

“We’re going to have chili for the community, we make sales throughout the community and get a bowl of chili, a Cheryl’s cookie, and a bag of chips and a drink and crackers and it’s going to be a nice event for the whole community,” Ware said.

The Gant Foundation is the homestead of Nelson T. Gant who was a former slave that became a free man and went on to be a businessman in the late 1850s in Zanesville. The purpose of the foundation is restoring the Gant house and to revive the legacy of Nelson T. Gant for the building of character, community and cultural pride. The goal is to develop the Gant house into an historical, educational, cultural and charitable facility.

“We have a lot of history about the African American community in Zanesville. This is one of the places that you can find out and know all about the African American community in Zanesville. How it grew, the situations that happened over the years. We connect with many other community foundations in the area we work with a lot of other organizations that are volunteer organizations and that’s how we operate,” Ware said.

The Gant Foundation Chili Fest will be a two-day event on Friday, October 27th from 11am-2pm and the 28th from 11am-3pm. The Gant House is located at 1845 West Main Street in Zanesville. For tickets or information, contact 740-297-5558 or order online at https://www.nelsontgantfoundation.org/.