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Mt. Pulaski Fall Festival - Market
on the Hill Baking Contest
[September 15, 2025]
The weekend of September 13th
and 14th was the Mt. Pulaski Fall Festival. Saturday the 13th was
the biggest day, however, with the most planned events, ranging from
8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. The festival was held on the Square and was
attended by hundreds of people.
One of the events was a baking contest hosted by Market on the Hill.
The organizer of this contest was Jeanie Beccue, who is on the
Market on the Hill board as well as its Treasurer. She shared that
while this is the second time Market on the Hill has hosted the
baking contest, it is hardly new. Her mother-in-law, Phyllis Beccue,
owner of the now closed Salt Creek Attic, hosted this contest for 17
years. COVID stopped the contest for a while, and Market on the Hill
picked it back up last year.
This year, there were eleven total
entrants, with four of them being kids and seven adults. The entries
were baked goods ranging from cookies and cupcakes, to pies and even
a cake. One of the more unique entries was called “pancakes and
bacon cupcakes” that had bacon on them.
Beccue shared that the visual presentation portion of the judging
happened in Market on the Hill about half an hour before the tasting
took place, which started at 2:00 p.m. This was because of the 93
degree Fahrenheit heat of the day and the fear that some of the
baked goods might start to melt. Once the visual judging was over,
the items were carried over to the food tent.
Beccue would prepare the baked
goods onto four separate paper plates and then bring them over the
four judges as they finished judging the previous item. The four
judges of the day included Phyllis Beccue, Chief Tony West, Darlene
Berry, and Wyatt Waterkotte.
The four took their jobs seriously, considering variable aspects of
each baked good before making notes on paper. They were not all
business, however, and kept the atmosphere light and fun, sometimes
cracking jokes and getting some laughs from the audience.
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After the judges
were finished tasting all eleven baked goods, they stepped away
from their judging table and convened in the corner of the tent
to pick two winners. They were picking one winner out of the
kids and one out of the adults.
The first place winner in the kids
division was Piper Smock. Smock baked an apple pie. The winner for
the adult division was Briana Luttrell. Luttrell baked s’mores
cupcakes. Both winners were presented with a gift card to Market on
the Hill.
[Matt Boutcher]
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