QUINCY, ILL. -- UPDATED: May 10 at 11:58 a.m.
We now know who had winning cakes at the first-ever YWCA Cake-A-Palooza.
People's Choice Winners were as follows:
Children's Division -- Shaayla Hill
Junior Division -- Jernada Johnson
Intermediate Division -- Brooke Richardson
Advanced Division -- Judy Smith
Special Dietary Needs Division -- Kimberly Douglas
What the Heck Am I Doing? Division -- Brad Billings
Judged Winners:
Children's Division
1st Place -- Kari Hamilton
2nd Place -- Olivia Werries
3rd Place -- Shaqualla Hill
Junior Division
1st Place -- Kori and Kelly Obert
2nd Place -- Makenzy Barnes
3rd Place -- Brittany Johnston
Intermediate Division
1st Place -- Tia Hamilton
2nd Place -- Melissa Murphy
3rd Place -- Amy Looten
Advanced Division
1st Place -- Amber Lynn Martin
2nd Place -- Angie Barnes
3rd Place -- Brooke Richardson
Special Dietary Needs Division
1st Place -- Kimberly Douglas
2nd Place -- Gretchen McDonald
3rd Place -- Fran Stevens
What The Heck Am I Doing? Division
1st Place -- Sandy McElhoe
2nd Place -- Brad Billings
3rd Place -- Fran Stevens
Decorators Choice Winners:
Children's Division -- Zakkiyya Brent
Junior Division -- Brittany Johnston
Intermediate Division -- Tia Hamilton
Advanced Division -- Amber Lynn Martin
Special Dietary Needs Division -- Kim Douglas
What the Heck Am I Doing? Division -- Blane Barnes
Click here for the official press release.
The YWCA would like to thank everyone who turned out both to compete and to partake in the day's events. They look forward to making this an annual event.
Click here to follow the Quincy YWCA on Facebook.
-------------------
Cake-a-palooza hit the Quincy Mall Saturday packing in crowds from all around the Tri-State area. From cake decorating to bidding on your favorite cake, the competition was fierce.
"We've consumed the entire mall, every square inch of the mall, it's Cake-A-Palooza," said Mary Muehlenfeld, the executive director of YWCA in Quincy.
From cake decorating for both adults and kids to crafts and a photo shoot with balloons, Saturday's events were just the icing on the cake for the real issue at hand.
"It's all about raising awareness for homelessness in Quincy, but particularly, our program serves homeless mothers with disabling conditions that need that extra support to live independently and raise their children and that's what this event is about but also to just have fun, be creative," said Muehlenfeld.
Donated cakes took on the shapes of spaghetti and meatballs, a happy meal, even a caterpillar.
"We've had 70 cakes donated in the predecorated division. I've seen some going for $100. And the five professionally made cakes are donated and going to homeless shelters and soup kitchens here in Quincy when they're finished, so that's a great Mother's Day gift," said Muehlenfeld.
The main attraction of the day was YWCA's live extreme cake competition.
"These are all professional teams too, well, most of them are," said Muehlenfeld. Those aside from the KHQA team with Tegan Orpet and Lindsey Boetsch.
"We had this plan like three days ago to have these three layered flower pots with flowers coming out of them, but the heat is coming through the skylight and causing our cakes to crack. So we were going to go with the broken flower pot, but that didn't work either, because it broke a little bit more." said Boetsch.
With less than an hour left on the clock, the cakes were looking fabulous, though KHQA's cake looked questionable.
"We still don't know what we're doing really," said Boetsch.
In the end, sisters Kristen Yargus and Stephanie Rieffer took home the trophy. KHQA took home a fifth place medal. Others teams that competed in the live challenge included: the Double J's (Judy "Dolly" Smith and Judy Williams), Laura's Sweet Expressions (Laura Moyer and her husband Louis), Kreative Kakes by Lisa (Lisa Schreck and Chantell Sparks).