Does life seem extra sweet lately? That’s because the Greene County Fair’s famous baking competition is right around the corner. The baking competitions urge amateur bakers residing in Pennsylvania to whip up their best homemade cake, pies, cookies, breads, brownies, and more. The biggest of these contests are the angel food, apple pie, and chocolate cake competitions. (FMI on the baking contests, read our two articles, “Calling All Bakers!” and “Looking for Some Fair Competition?”)
These contests have some steep competition. Many enter these contests year after year, honing their craft and hoping to win their category and head on up to the statewide competition at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in January. A common thread between most of the many bakers entering the competition is the role their family has played.
Nettie E. Hill, who won third place in the 2019 Homemade Chocolate Cake Contest, started to love baking when she was around eleven or twelve and baking with her mother. Nettie says that she and her sister Martha both liked to enter the chocolate cake competition to see who would win. Nettie remembers entering her baking for the first time in the 1989 baking competition and winning her very first time. The win lit such a fire under her that she has entered every year since.
Lew Crouse, the 2019 first place winner in the INCREDIBLE Angel Food Cake Contest, also credits his mom. He said that his mom could win a baking competition herself if she entered. “She doesn’t enter but she should,” Lew says. Lew entered the baking contest for the first time on a dare. A friend of his dared him to enter the competition and Lew took the dare. His first attempt was at the Jacktown Fair. Since then, he has gone on to enter the competition at the Greene County Fair, Hookstown, and Fayette County Fair.
Donna Zwerver won second place in the 2019 INCREDIBLE Angel Food Cake Contest. She loved to bake with her mother, grandmother, and aunt when she was growing up. One year, Donna’s sister-in-law was sick, and Donna was looking for a way to bring her family a bit of unexpected happiness. She decided to enter everyone in the family in the baking competition. She says she entered her grandchildren, brothers, niece, and turned it into a real family competition.
“The sibling rivalry really made the competition passionate,” Donna shares. It managed to uplift her family’s spirits and take their mind off heavier issues. After that first competition, things “took off like a rocket.”
Donna’s favorite part of baking is the smiles on her family’s faces. Nettie’s love of baking is so great that when she has the kitchen to herself, she could “bake all day long.” She says she doesn’t care as much about winning, and she’s always happy being a part of the events at the fair. For Lew, it’s about the fun of entering and trying new things. He loves to come up with new flavor combinations. A friend of Lew’s challenged him to work bourbon into a recipe so he gave it a try. It paid off as it led to Lew winning with his Bourbon Apple Pie.
The bakers shared a bit of advice for those considering entering the baking competition. Donna’s best baking tip comes straight from her mom, “touch the dough the least amount possible,” for the perfect flaky pie crust. Lew says “everyone should enter once [and that] baking is for everyone.” It’s more about the good food and the fun of entering than it is about winning.
Are you a fair competitor? We’d love to hear from those involved in more fair contests, such as canning, baking, gardening, art, photography, and other handcrafts. Send your stories to info@greenescenemagazine.com.