Photo © Mark Nassal | Dreamstime.com
It’s still summer and in most places, it’s prime fair season. And after all, who doesn’t love the county fair? The rides, the animals, the corn dogs, the live music.
The cake auctions where kids' baked goods sell for four and even five figures.
Cue the music: One of these things is not like the others…
If you’re still trying to scrape your jaw off the floor, it’s time you met the newest form of food sport: 4-H and FFA baking competitions where fairgoers, companies and benefactors bid on desserts crafted by local youth.
Bonus: All the proceeds generally go back to the kids, either through funding 4-H or FFA programs, as scholarships or in other benefits.
Oh, and competitions like Chopped or Top Chef can learn something from these kids. They’re serious about their game but they’re also wildly supportive of one another, screaming with excitement as bids go up for their friends’ work.
In Maryland’s Carroll County Fair, 10-year-old Lorelai Masimore’s chocolate cake with cookies-and-cream frosting received the highest bids in the Grand Champion category by a significant margin, eventually selling for $10,500.
“I never thought I’d get $10,000 for a cake,” she told reporters after the sale. “It’s a big dream.”
Proceeds from the auction went directly to the fair and to the county’s 4-H youth development programs.
In 2023, the cake auction smashed fundraising records with a $50,000 winning bid. Yes, on one cake.
Local businesses generally bid on the baked goods, which can also include cookies, breads. pies and other delicacies. Sometimes, several businesses will band together and pool their resources in order to come to the auction with plenty to spend.
Two business leaders who had come together to bid in Carroll County were Kenny Staley and Karen Kuhn of the self-titled Carroll County Farm and Business Syndicate.
Kuhn and Staley said their involvement was all about supporting the community and ensuring free fair entry for all, as well as helping to recognize and encourage local 4-H kids. The county fair is free to enter, unlike many others, and all proceeds from the cakes go toward keeping it free.
Sometimes, the stakes are even higher. The Clermont County Fair in Ohio has Bake It Like A 4-H-er competitions on different nights for pies and cakes, and will designate a specialty ingredient (this year, it was chocolate). First place winners, selected by the judges, have the opportunity to enter their winning items at the Senior Fair Pie Auction.
Want to see an auction in action? Here’s video taken at the Nemaha County Fair in Auburn, Nebraska.
In Wisconsin, the Langlade County Fair’s auction is a hotly contested event, as is the Oconto County Fair cake auction.
In Montgomery County, Maryland, the cake auction is the largest fundraiser for Montgomery County 4-H. According to the fair’s website, the community shows their support at the auction, bidding as much as $5,000 on each cake. Annually, the auction raises nearly $40,000, money that is used to expand resources, provide scholarships, create new programs and support 4-H youth in their endeavors.
Supporters include program alumni, community businesses and 4-H families.
And in Carroll County, Maryland, as 4-H members shrieked and high-fived one another each time a bid went higher, it was all about supporting your friends and celebrating each victory.
For kids like Julianna Allender, 16, whose fair-themed sugar cookies ultimately sold for $2,300, the fair is full of life lessons – and those lessons are the same ones taught by any other sport.
“It means a lot to us kids who grew up on farms,” she said. “It’s all about picking a project, sticking to it, working on it each year and getting better and better.”
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