Every new year brings something new and exciting, but one constant is the plethora of bragging rights that are up for grabs. Every year in Aspen restaurants across town fight for bragging rights and the Reggie Barbour Memorial Copper Soup Pot in Wintersköl’s Soupsköl. Soup enthusiasts had the opportunity to roam around trying various soups for free from 4 to 6 on January 9^th.

“There are definitely bragging rights that come along with Soupsköl. A lot of the owners are very close in town and they all compete with one another,” says Chelsea Barry, a cocktail waitress for El Rincon.

The 12^th annual Soupsköl featured twelve restaurants. After a ton of soup sampling it was determined that there would be a tie for the winner of this year’s contest. Newcomer Meat & Cheese tied with the reigning champion, Square Grouper. Meat & Cheese served a Thai coconut soup, and the Square Grouper served a chicken corn chowder. Each restaurant received $625 for winning. The Square Grouper will hold on to the copper soup pot until July, and from July until January, Meat and Cheese will have the pot. The Big Hoss Grill came in second place and won $250.

Restaurants like El Rincon have been doing the event for the past few years. They love to see the locals in a different setting and come out and just have a good time. Though the restaurants love and support the annual event, it is no easy task to prepare soup for so many people.

“We made our soup from scratch. We had to let our shrimp for the soup overnight. [The chefs] have been working on the soup for about two full days now,” says Kristen Oda, the manager of El Rincon.

The contest was located downtown on Hunter Street and Cooper Street and was open to the public. Last year’s competition attracted more than 3,000 locals and tourists, including AHS student and AHS volunteers

“I am volunteering tonight out of the goodness of my heart. I love how this event brings the entire community together. I also am a big fan of soup,” said senior, Griffin Stevens, who volunteered at the event.

Stevens also mentioned how the environment at the event was great and is very unique to Aspen. Not many towns can close down a major street out host a soup festival in the middle of winter.

“It’s pretty special how we have the ability to do this year in and year out,” Stevens said.

Local Reggie Barbour, who passed away November 19, 2008, created the annual event 12 years ago. Barbour worked for 20 years at Boogie’s Diner, where he created fan favorite soup Southwestern chicken soup that was perfect after a long day of skiing. Barbour challenged fellow chefs to craft their best soup and have locals vote for their favorite. After 12 years, Barbour’s soup legacy is still strong in the community.