Chili, beer and the Super Bowl seem to go together in some Lawrence bars.

By the time the Carolina Panthers and the New England Patriots clash tonight in Houston, chili feeds and chili contests will be well under way.

“It’s always a lot of fun,” said Tom Conroy, owner of Kaspar’s Bar and Grill, 3115 W. Sixth St., where a chili contest has been a tradition on Super Bowl Sunday.

At Johnny’s Tavern, 401 N. Second St., it has been a tradition to stage a chili feed fund-raiser for the Kansas University rugby team. And with a snowstorm predicted for today, eating chili would seem appropriate.

But talk Saturday of a storm had Johnny’s owner Rick Renfro worried.

“If the weather people would shut their mouths, we’d probably have 100 to 150 people here today,” Renfro said.

The chili feed at Johnny’s starts at 1 p.m. and goes until 5 p.m. The price for eating all the chili you can stand is $7.

A chili contest and a pool tournament will be among the attractions today at Jet Lag Lounge, 610 Fla. Chili contest participants are asked to bring in their concoctions for judging. In addition, the bar will be cooking ribs and chicken for their customers, an employee said.

Representatives from Budweiser and Nextel also will be at the bar taking advantage of the event to promote their products.

As at the Jet Lag, Kaspar’s chili contest is open to anyone willing to bring in their creation. Kaspar’s contest entries are judged by a panel of five customers.

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“Actually, if anybody wants to be a judge, we’d probably let them,” Conroy said.

The judging takes place during the Super Bowl halftime, Conroy said.

“Everybody makes up a name for their chili, and we always have a ‘Roadkill chili,'” he said.