Get out your aprons and spatulas, Tucson. It’s time to find the best tailgate cook in the Old Pueblo.

At each University of Arizona home football game, starting this Saturday, Sept. 7 against Northern Arizona University, Casino Del Sol Executive Chef Ryan Clark will search for the best tailgate dishes. His goal? To crown one cook as the “Sol Bowl Tailgate Champion of the Week.”

“As a Tucson native, I’m a huge Wildcats fan so tailgating has always been something I look forward to,” said Clark in a release. “I thought it’d be a fun way to show our support for the home team and let local chefs and foodies boast their game day specialties.”

The weekly competition will take place at each of the six Saturday home games at Arizona Stadium: Sept. 7 vs. NAU, Sept. 14 vs. Texas Tech, Sept. 28 vs. UCLA, Oct. 12 vs. Washington, Nov. 2 vs. Oregon State and Nov. 23 vs. Utah.

Starting three hours before kick-off, Clark will be at the tailgate section of the UA Main Campus Mall looking for tailgaters with the best tailgate masterpieces. He will taste one dish from each contestant and select one winner.

Each week’s winner will join Clark on the field during the game, where they will be presented with an official Sol Bowl chef’s apron from Chef Works, and $500 in gift cards.

Tailgate cooks are encouraged to register online prior to each game at casinodelsol.com/solbowl. Entrants must be 21 or older, have tickets to the game and an official tailgating location at the tailgate section of the UA Main Campus Mall.

May the best chef win!

The Reid Park Zoo said goodbye to one of its animal inhabitants this week, 20-year-old Elinor the reticulated giraffe. Born in the Knoxville Zoological Gardens on May 29, 1999, Elinor came to Tucson when she was 11 years old in 2010.

According to the zoo, Elinor died Monday, Sept. 2, just a day after “demonstrating signs of respiratory distress.” The zoo’s medical team responded to the situation, but were unable to keep Elinor alive.

She did have a history of breathing problems, and a necropsy performed at the University of Arizona Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory will reveal more information in the coming weeks.

The median life expectancy of giraffes like Elinor is 19 years. Elinor lived at Reid Park Zoo with two other giraffes: Jasiri, an 8-year-old male, and Denver, a 30-year-old female who is the second oldest giraffe in the United States. Giraffes are listed as a vulnerable species and less than 70,000 animals remain in the wild.

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