Three hands-on workshops open to the public are planned to follow the judging and awarding of prizes in the Second Sugar Show Contest that is part of the 52nd Nescatunga Arts Festival.
The Sugar Show contest judging will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 3, in Northwestern Oklahoma State University Health and Sports Science Education Commons area. The area will open to the public for People’s Choice voting at approximately 10:30 a.m. with awards to be presented at approximately 11:30 a.m. The workshops will follow at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. in Northwestern’s Science Amphitheatre, just north of Percefull Fieldhouse.
At 1 p.m. will be a cookie decorating workshop for aspiring adults of three summer-themed cookies – a flamingo, watermelon and hibiscus flower - led by Autry Technology Center in Enid instructor Lisa Hills.
Hills will give step-by-step instructions while decorating with the class. At the end of this take-and-make session, in addition to the cookies, Hills is providing a goodie bag and a laminated recipe card for the cookies and icing. There will also be a drawing for one lucky person to win a prize.
Hills’ workshop is limited to the first 15 people to register and pay their $10 workshop fee.
Hills has lived in Enid for 27 years and began her hobby of decorating cookies with her daughters for the grandchildren’s birthday parties. They would also create cookies for the holidays as well as baby and bridal showers. She was asked to fill in for a cookie decorating class almost one year ago, which helped to launch Sweet Creations with Lisa.
At 2 p.m., a cookie decorating workshop for children will be led by Burlington sugar artist Tamre McGinnis, owner of Sweet Treats by Tamre, and is open to the first 10 children who are wanting to start their decorating careers. This workshop also is $10 to attend.
McGinnis will be giving step-by-step instructions demonstrating how to create a cute teddy bear cookie. At the end of the session, the children will be taking their cookies home with recipes.
The last workshop of the day will be led by April Ridgway at 3 p.m. and also is $10 to attend. It will be a make-and-take session for the aspiring adult sugar artist where participants will work with fondant techniques to create a cute cow cake. It is open to the first 10 people to register and pay their workshop fee.
Ridgway, owner of Sunflower Road Sweets and chair of the Sugar Show contest for Nescatunga, will give participants step-by-step instructions and helpful tips on working with fondant. At the end of the session, participants will have a decorated six-inch round cake to take home along with the patterns and recipes used. There will also be a drawing for one participant to win a set of the tools used in the workshop.
Those wishing to attend the workshops should contact Ridgway at (580) 917-0101 or maxandapril@hotmail.com.
Entries are still being accepted for the Sugar Show, however, the early entry fee has passed. The first entry is now $50 with each additional category being $15. Students may enter for free.
There are three divisions: Professional, Aspiring and Student. All divisions may enter one decorated edible cake, a dozen cookies and a dozen cupcakes. Professionals may enter a fourth category of a non-edible dummy cake. There currently are three contestants in each of the three divisions.
Additional information about the sugar show or festival, which takes place over three days on June 2-4 on Northwestern’s campus, may be found at www.nescatunga.org or on the Nescatunga Arts and Humanities Council Facebook page using /NescatungaArts.
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