The annual New England Chili Classic runs through the weekend, and fund-raising road races will be held today and Sunday.

Chili fans and chili-makers converge at Veterans Park today and Sunday.

The event includes a street festival from noon until 6 p.m. both days, with chili sampling from 1 to 4 p.m. each day.

Manchester drew an estimated 25,000 people to the world championship of chili-cooking two years ago, and repeated as host city last year — only the second city to serve as host for two consecutive years. The organizers continued their custom of moving on, so the city is hosting its own festival.

Tickets to the chili competition are $5 in advance and $7 at the door. Each ticket comes with five coupons that can be exchanged for samples of the offerings of assorted chili cooks.

The competition will crown winners in several categories, including red chili, vegetarian chili, most creative, people's choice and the New England Chili Classic Champion. Entertainment will be offered on two stages and in the chili-judging area. A variety of local arts and music groups will perform, the police canine unit will conduct a demonstration and Italian cookbook author Mary Ann Esposito will mingle and sign books.

A beer garden will be part of the festival of chili for samplers who are mindful that the ingredient that gives the peppers their bite is more soluble in alcohol than in water.

The beer garden will be opened to participants in the Foot Race for the Fallen, which will be run Sunday. The 6th annual race begins Sunday at 10 a.m. and runs a loop from the police station up Chestnut and Willow streets to Queen City Avenue, down Elm Street and back up Chestnut Street to the starting point.

The road race raises money for Police Athletic League sports programs and honors the four city police officers killed in the line of duty.

The honored officers are Sgt. Henry McAllister, shot to death by a former police officer at the city police station in 1895; Inspector William Moher, killed by gunfire in a shoot-out with a robbery suspect in 1921; Officer Ralph Miller, gunned down on October, 1976 at the age of 25 while responding to a noise complaint; and Officer Michael Briggs, who was shot and killed six years ago this Wednesday.

The other road race in downtown will be Saturday. It is in memory of Melissa “Missy” Cantin Charbonneau, who was killed by her husband in a domestic violence murder-suicide in 2009.

The Missy's Hope 5K race is run around Crystal Lake and begins at 757 Bodwell Road. The race has helped raise thousands for the YWCA Domestic Violence Emergency Fund and Missy's Hope Fund, for the aid of children who have witnessed domestic violence.

Charbonneau was a 29-year-old mother who had obtained a restraining order against her husband, who was out on bail for violating the order at the time of the murder.

The Missy's Hope race begins at 10 a.m. Registration tables open at 9 a.m. Walkers are invited to participate along with runners.

wsmith@newstote.com

Road closures

Chili Cook-off:
Saturday, 6 a.m. to Sunday, 8 p.m. Elm St. closed, Lake Ave. to Merrimack Street.

Missy's Hope 5K:
Saturday 10 a.m. until conclusion. Traffic restricted Bodwell Road east, Corning Road west, Mammoth Road north, Corning Road to Bodwell Road.

Foot Race for the Fallen:
Sunday 10 a.m. until conclusion. Chestnut Street, Willow Street, Queen City Avenue, Elm Street.