Eight students from chef Trevor Randle’s culinary arts program at Maple Ridge Secondary will be cooking up a storm at the Black Box Culinary Competition on July 28 and 29.

Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Country Fest will host the competition at the annual Hoedown Showdown.

Students will be in four groups of two, and cooking up a storm in an exhilarating two hours of competition. The teams are Tasha Sirianni and Kyle Campbell, Caitlynn Butula and Brooklyne Taylor, Felicia Day and Julian Froc, and Matthew Charron and Lindsay Charron.

The students will be expected to create two dishes in the time allotted – one main entree dish highlighting a featured local item and one salad that can be created from items on the common ingredient table.

The goal of both dishes is to represent and use local ingredients to create appetizing dishes for the judges.

Maple Ridge councillor Cheryl Ashlie will be emceeing the competition. Judges will be politicians, local chefs, and food producers.

On Saturday, July 28, the judges will be Pitt Meadows Mayor Deb Walters, local farmer Steve Pelton, executive chef from Pitt Meadows Golf Club Richard Morant, and Tim Sarsfield of The Caring Place.

Then, on Sunday, July 29, the judges will be Haney Farmers Market Society’s Eileen Dwillies, Maple Ridge Mayor Ernie Daykin, Mike Mulchany, chef and owner of Big Feast Bistro & Catering, and Emma Davison, of Golden Ears Cheesecrafters.

Daykin is looking forward to judging the competion.

“It’s a great opportunity for our up-and-coming chefs to showcase their talents, and it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Dakin said.

“And for the record, I’m a meatetarian,” he joked.

Each student participating in this competition will receive a $500 bursary for post-secondary education in culinary arts from the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Agricultural Association.