MANSFIELD – Tim Denis continued to make history at the Richland County Fair on Wednesday.
Denis, a resident of Troy Township, was the first competitor to bake both the grand winner and reserve winner cakes at the fair’s annual cake auction.
In 2017, for the first time in the fair’s history, the top two cakes in the annual competition and auction were baked by men – Denis and Gene Esbenshade.
Denis’ lemon meringue pie was named overall winner on Wednesday night for a total of $250. His mince pie was named reserve winner.
At the end of the auction, Denis still couldn’t believe it.
“I still can’t believe it,” he said of winning the auction’s two highest awards.
Rader’s Old Fashion Ice Cream purchased the lemon meringue pie for $150. Richland County Commissioner Darrell Banks claimed the mince pie for $100.
Denis chased the “best crust”
Wednesday marked Denis’s tenth year baking cakes for the annual competition and auction.
Around 2012, three years before he first entered the competition, several friends encouraged him to take part, says Denis.
“That first year (2015), I didn’t get any blue ribbons at all,” he said. “But every year after that, I always got at least one blue ribbon.”
Denis doubted he would ever bake a cake worthy of the title of Grandmaster, but Wednesday proved otherwise.
“I was just shocked,” he said. “It was just unbelievable.”
While Denis acknowledged that there is no clear secret to baking a championship-worthy pie, he said experimenting with different crusts has been a big help.
One time he made six cake layers, numbered each one, and invited friends, relatives, and neighbors to choose their favorite layer.
“I was always looking for the best crust,” Denis said. “Finally, I got to a point where I settled on a crust that I really liked… nothing has changed since then.”
Annual cake auction raises over $5,500
This year’s auction at the 174th Richland County Fair celebrated the 30th anniversary of the bake sale in the Arts and Crafts Building on the fairgrounds.
Kathi Cutlip-Mills, one of the chairmen of the cake auction, said 82 bakers originally registered for Wednesday’s auction and 70 participated.
After all 70 cakes were sold, the auction raised $5,570 Wednesday night, she said.
Fifty percent of the proceeds will be used by the Richland County Fair Board to fund improvements to the Arts and Crafts Building. The other 50 percent will go to the auction bakers.
(The following pictures were taken during the annual pie auction on Wednesday at the 174th Richland County Fair.)
