SIDNEY — The bids were flying during the bake goods auction Sunday night as bidders tried to win something to satisfy their sweet tooth.
Seven grand champion delicacies were auctioned off as the cooks watched and waited for the winning bid to come in.
The grand champion apple coffee cake, which was entered by Jennifer Knouff, was sold for $275 to Detailed Machining, of Sidney. Her entry was in the quick breads category.
“The more you pay for it, the more it’s worth,” quipped auctioneer Dick Barhorst.
The grand champion cake was created by Trisha Schulze. The Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Cake was purchased by Barker Insurance for $340.
Casey Wehrle was the winner of the candy category with her homemade caramels.
“I imagine as warm as it is, they’re really soft,” said Barhorst.
Emerson Wagner Realty purchased the caramels for $200.
The grand champion homemade noodles entered by Betty Watkins were purchased by Sidney Body CarStar for $180.
Best One Tire purchased Joyce Russell’s grand champion strawberry rhubarb pie for $360.
A consortium of the three Shelby County commissioners — Julie Ehemann, Tony Bornhorst and Bob Guillozet — and Republican John Coffield, who is running for the Shelby County treasurer’s seat in November, purchased the grand champion cookies for $420. Susan Bertsch entered her Lemon Crinkle Cookies in the competition.
“I really like lemon,” said Bertsch on her choice of cookies for the competition. “They really taste like lemon meringue pie. The cookies have a glaze on top.”
Bertsch said she was surprised about how much her cookies brought at the auction.
“I had baked them twice before I was happy with them,” said Bertsch.
Bertsch had a taste-testing team at Anna Schools who tried her chocolate chip, sugar, oatmeal raisin and lemon cookies, along with her cherry pie.
“The student custodian staff tasted them all and they raved about the lemon cookies,” she said.
Laura Schulze had the grand champion yeast bread and rolls with her Maple Pecan Rolls. They were purchased by Barker Insurance for $300.
The mother and daughter team of Laura and Trisha Schulze had entered many baked goods in the competition.
“I enter whatever I have a craving for,” said Laura.
“I do what every sounds good,” said Trisha.
Laura Schulze has one quick rule for the fair — she never enters a category her daughter is planning to enter.
“We didn’t enter against one another,” she said.
Laura said she has been entering baked goods in the fair for 30 years. Her daughter has been entering the competition for five years.
“I started doing it because of mom,” said Trisha.
“She was also in 4-H for many years,” said her mom.
“My husband is on the fairboard, so this was a way to keep us involved with the fair also,” said Laura.
Both of their grand champion entries were purchased by Barker Insurance. The number for Barker Insurance was called numerous times during the auction.
“It seems like forever that I’ve been buying at the sale,” said owner Denny Barker. “If it looks good, I bid on it.”
Dick Barhorst and his auction crew donate their time for the annual sale.
“it’s a fun auction to do,” said Barhorst. “We look forward to it every year. It’s nice to see Shelby County people supporting Shelby County.”
