If your idea of a good fall Saturday involves tasting chili and browsing a market, put October 24 on the calendar.

The Chili-Fest & Harvest Market brings a chili cook-off and an arts and crafts festival to Ridge Ferry Park in Rome, with gates opening at 10 a.m.

The market runs until 3 p.m., giving you a daytime outing built around tasting, shopping and a little friendly competition.

For the food crowd, the draw is the chance to sample the entries and help choose a People’s Choice favorite.

Sampling bracelets cost $5 and will be sold at the event, so plan to purchase yours there if tasting is on your agenda.

Each bracelet includes three voting tabs, giving visitors a part in the cook-off beyond deciding which chili they would happily eat again.

Those tabs are simply three votes; their printed numbers do not assign different point values.

Admission is free, while parking costs $5 per car.

That makes it easy to separate the costs: one parking charge for the car, plus a bracelet for each person who wants to sample.

You can also make the Harvest Market your reason to visit and browse the arts and crafts without buying a sampling bracelet.

The setting is Ridge Ferry Park, at 363 Riverside Parkway NE.

Bring your appetite, leave room to browse and give yourself time to pick a favorite before casting those votes.