PARSONS – Everyone loves the sweet smells of pies and cakes while they are baking, and with that in mind, folks flocked to the Tucker County Fair Saturday evening to place their bids, hoping to take home some of Tucker County’s favorite baked delights.
Proceeds from the Pie and Cake Auction are earmarked to help defray the costs associated with putting on the Tucker County Fair. The auction also included two hand-made quilts, which were purchased by Pat Bright and Delegate Randy Smith, R-Preston.
The first cake to be swooped up was a chocolate cake, purchased by Tammy Stemple, Democrat running for the House in the 47 th District, followed by a rum cake, purchased by Mike Rosenau, president of the Tucker County Commission.
Two butterscotch pies and two coconut cream pies were donated in memory of Cornell E. Knotts by her granddaughter Lyndsey Knotts. Lyndsey used her grandmother’s recipes to duplicate the much-loved pies.
“Cornell Knotts was my aunt,” Rosenau said. “She was well known for her pies. She and her husband, Junior Knotts, were always involved in the Tucker County Fair. They were active in a realm of community service activities.”
Jenny Streets, of Sugarlands, was Cornell Knotts good friend and neighbor.
“Cornell loved to bake,” Streets said. “It seemed like all the kids loved to go to her house because they knew she would have treats, especially raisin cookies. They loved to go to her house.
“She loved to pick blueberries, and she made wonderful blueberry dumplings,” Streets said. “You name it, she made it. She was a fantastic cook and one of my best friends ever. Her coconut cream pies used to bring hundreds of dollars in the Tucker County Fair Pie and Cake Auction. That’s why her granddaughter used her recipes to submit these pies.”
Other pies and cakes in the auction include peanut butter fudge, a pineapple upside down cake, a chocolate cake with white icing, an applesauce cake, a pineapple cheesecake and a plain cheesecake.
An apple pie cake, baked by Lisa Cale and purchased by Harper Farms, was still warm from the oven as bids made their way to $55.
One final item available during the auction was a basket stuffed with goodies, and the proceeds of that auction will go to help Parsons resident Jaelyn Myers. Jaelyn suffered a broken leg that is not healing properly, and so she had operation to correct the break. In order to travel back and forth to Shriners Hospital in Pittsburgh, Jaelyn needs a special chair costing more than $600 – needed because she is in a body cast.
When the bidding completed, Patrick Darlington of Performance Motors had the winning bid with $370 – just $230 shy of the cost of the seat. Darlington showed his concern for little Jaelyn by donating the basket back to be re-auctioned. The second bidding war winner was Tucker County Commissioner Lowell Moore, with a bid of $250 – enough to secure the needed chair for little Jaelyn.
By Beth Christian Broschart
The Parsons Advocate