Death by Chocolate raises $3,500 for Meyersdale Public Library
After three years of being on a hiatus, Death by Chocolate raised $3,500 for the Meyersdale Library through the organizing efforts of the Friends of the Library on Friday evening at Amity United Church of Christ in Meyersdale.
"Every chair was filled and a few times we had to put more chairs out. With everyone seated and those volunteering we had about 100 people. A great turnout for our comeback event," said Mel Reckner, event coordinator for the Friends. "It was an evening of fun and we appreciate all the bakers, the buyers and businesses who help support this year after year and we thank Amity church for hosting us."
The winners were:
Cakes and Pies — Miranda Durst, first for Who Needs Gravity cake; Betty Christy, second for Love Finds You; and a tie for third place with Maria Dennison, Strawberry Forest Cake, and Amy Robertson, Decadent Chocolate Cone Cake.
Cookies and Bars - Melissa Blocher, first for Chocolate Covered Raspberry Brownies; Grace Oakes, Chocolate Mousse Bars; and Carol Saylor, Hot Chocolate Cookies, both tied for second place; no third place given.
Candy — Patty Bittner, first place for Brandy Cherries; Tarrah Cox, second place for Strawberry Cheesecake Bites; Almeda Miller, third, Chocolate Caramel Tassie.
Best of Show was tied with Miranda Durst for her cake Who Needs Gravity and Melissa Blocher for her Chocolate Covered Raspberry Brownies.
The judges for the evening were Doris Robertson, Camila Tamal, Shirley Vought, Laura Schardt, Mark Albright, Fred DiPasquale, Jeff LaFramboise, Mike Miller and Brandy Wertz.
Jesse and Karen Maust volunteered their time to conduct the auction. Jesse does the auctioneering, while Karen does the bookkeeping.
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The auction is a competition but the bake sale is supported by many who donate their baked goods for sale to raise more funds at the library during the day. The auction is held at the church but the bake sale goes on at the library. The $3,500 raised was the combined total from both the auction and bake sale and donations.
Fay Hajel baked a special German chocolate cake in memory of the late Rita O'Neil, who was the late Dean O'Neil's wife, and donated it for the auction. Blake Henry bought the cake for $200. Rita O'Neil once baked German chocolate cakes for the event and there were bidding wars with these cakes sometimes going as high as $900.
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Mark Albright, a longtime Kansas City Chiefs fan, bought a special Superbowl cake baked by Helen Smith of Somerset, for $120. Jen Hurl, the genealogist at the library, baked it for The Way We Were Club members, who are working to preserve all of the photographs and negatives we've obtained from George Menser upon The New Republic newspaper's closure.
Miranda Durst's first-place Who Needs Gravity cake was once again bought by Ken Warnick for $70 as her first-place cake Chocolate Buzz in 2020 was also purchased by him.
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Betty Christy's second-place Love Finds You was bought for $60. Christy makes a special cake every year for competition in honor of her late husband, Barry Christy, who also competed several years in the event.
The Friends of the Library also host a Wine Tasting at the Deal Mansion every November to raise funds to support the Meyersdale Public Library and that event, like Death By Chocolate, was put on hiatus a few years until it came back this past November.
"Some competitors are already planning for next year's auction by deciding what they are going to make for the competition," said Jan Stoner, Friends treasurer. "It was a well attended event with good weather and we were thankful for everyone participating."
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Meyersdale Death by Chocolate returns big after 3-year hiatus
