Scouts bake cake, eat, too
Photos by Ed Moreth<br>Cub Scout Josh Connolly tries to get his father, Cubmaster Pat Connolly, to bid on his cake car. Connolly was one of a dozen Scouts to compete in the annual Feller's Cake Bake put on by Pack 4657 in Plains last week.
The Cub Scouts showed last week that they could bake their cakes and eat them, too. At the end of the Plains Cub Scout Pack 4657 annual Feller's Cake Bake, nearly all of the boys got to take their own cakes home. Only one boy's father got outbid, and the winner gave the cake back to the father and son.
Twelve Scouts participated in this year's event, which was a combination cake contest and auction at the Plains School cafeteria Thursday evening. The pack raised $241 with their dozen cakes. In an effort to help the parents get their own cakes back, the maximum bid was set at $20 — although Don Damschen went a dollar more for Douglas Damschen's "Herbie Love Bug" car rendition.
The pack's theme this year, said Sue Baker, the pack's committee chairman, was car show. Each cake had to be completely done by the Scout and a helper or helpers, as long as the assistants were male, she said. Tommy Dossett's mother, Carol, helped him because his father was unavailable. Everything on the cake had to be edible. The cars ranged from about nine inches long to a foot-long bright yellow car by Dossett, who said he made it in the likeness of Plains resident Greg Dicken's stock car. The 10-year-old Dossett, who holds the Cub Scout rank of Webelo, took the Ford Tough cake award.
The boys took anywhere from just an over an hour to about six hours to make their cakes. Some created cars; others made race tracks. One made a van and another designed a truck.
The first-time judges took about 20 minutes to complete their task. They came up with a category for each contestant so that each boy would receive a certificate, said Baker. The judges had a tough time coming up with names for some of the categories, such as Blazz Wood's Mud Bogger. The Bear Scout's car looked as though the tires were spinning mud.
Aaron Baker, a Webelo, nabbed the Smartest Cake award because it demonstrated the ills of drunk driving. "You're a carnivore because you're eating a car," joked 9-year-old Damschen to Baker after the auction as Baker ate his crashed chocolate car.
The Scout leaders weren't sure how long the pack has been holding the Feller's Cake Bake, but Sue Baker believes it's probably over a dozen years.
"It's a chance for the boys and their fathers or brothers or whoever to do something together," said Pat Connolly, the pack's cubmaster, who served as auctioneer for the crowd of about 30 people. "In these busy days of life, we sometimes lose track of that," said Connolly, whose son Josh, a Bear Scout, took the Speed Spoiler award for his cake, a rendition of the car of Jeff Gordon, NASCAR's "Rainbow Warrior."
It took less than two minutes for each boy's cake to hit the maximum bid. One bid took only about 20 seconds to reach the $20 mark. The money raised at the auction goes to pay for Scout badges, camping trips and other Scout activities, according to Connolly, who's been the cubmaster for just over two years.
Last year's Feller's Cake Bake, which had the theme of "North Pole-South Pole," bagged $420, with one cake going for $40, despite the $20-limit last year, too.
Eleven-year-old Webelo Sam Arnold nabbed the Horseman award because his van donned the Plains School colors of orange and black. The youngest Scout, Tiger Connor Sampson, 6, received the Best Disney certificate for his cake.
Other awards of the Feller's Cake Bake included: Tyberious Harwood, a Bear, received the Turbo Truck award; Spencer Lamb, a Webelo, got the Indy Speedway award; Wolf Dillon Ellermann received the Dragster award; Ty Cummings picked up the Mystery Car award; and Lane Dameron, a Wolf, took the Pinewood Derby award.
Pack 4657 will be holding its annual Blue and Gold Awards Banquet at the Sanders County Fairgrounds pavilion Thursday, Feb. 21, at 6 p.m. The pack's pinewood derby races are scheduled for March 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Baker said kids can purchase derby kits at the awards banquet. The Plains Lions Club, which sponsors the derby each year, bought a new aluminum track for this year's competition. Don Damschen, a Lions Club member and the pack's assistant cubmaster, said the track comes with an electronic finish line.