Chatham Value Village and local Girl Guides baked up a cupcake storm Saturday, all for a good cause – Friends of the Animal Shelter.
Value Village hosted the fifth annual Cupcake Day, an event that has grown each year, according to store manager Donna Giroux. The final tally was $1,058 worth of cupcakes sold.
“It started with a few cupcakes in the lunch room and the next year we brought it out on the floor and it grew from there,” Giroux said.
The second year, Giroux challenged the local Girl Guide troop to bake cupcakes for judging and selling to raise money for local charity, and the members stepped up in a big way. Several tables at Value Village were filled with colourful works of art, that were also delicious.
This year, four judges were asked to pick their top five entries from 22 cupcakes based on looks and creativity, and from there, taste the entries to pick the top three winners.
OPP Const. Nicole Mailloux, Value Village staff alumni Meghan Labadie, UCC student Brenna Corcoran and myself were happy to taste test the creations brought in, but the judging turned out to be pretty tough, with the astonishing calibre of the entries.
“This is actually really tough. All of the entries look incredible; it’s hard to pick just the top five,” Mailloux said during the judging.
A sixth cupcake was added as an honourable mention because it was beautifully decorated.
First place went to Sam Kubica with a strawberry white chocolate cheesecake cupcake; in second place with a spiced apple pie and cinnamon cupcake was Paige Aitken; and third place went to Abby Basiaco with a Cookie Swamp Monster cupcake.
Girl Guide leader Cathy Reaume, who ran the cupcake sale table, said her group has been involved for four years.
“Donna sends us a challenge and we do it every year; it’s part of our community service. The kids really look forward to it,” Reaume said at the event. “They get a supporting community patch and a patch with a cupcake on it for participating.”
The Guides, who meet at Christ Church on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m., is a group open to young people nine-11 years of age.
Marjorie Crew, co-chair of the Friends of the Animal Shelter committee raising funds for the new shelter in Chatham said she and her committee have been overwhelmed by the generosity of community groups helping to raise money.
“It’s wonderful that people of all ages in our community are working together to make sure our shelter is built,” Crew said at the event. “We are grateful to everyone who has a fundraiser to help us out. Every cupcake counts.”
