25 Years…a tribute to some fabulous human beings.

This was my entry for the Silver Cakes competition at the 25th Anniversary of the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show. I got 2nd place and these are the people responsible for making the opportunity possible.

This was only the second ribbon I received in these short 5 years of entering this competition.

I was so proud of this for three important reasons.

1st it was an open category and I was 1 of 9 (maybe 10?) competitors. I doubted putting it in all the way up to the day of the show.

2nd it helped me quiet the doubts I was having about my own abilities that were leading me to almost quit doing this all together over the last year.

3rd and the most important it would be the last ribbon I would ever get from this competition because the director and co-founder of this competition announced it was the last show.

That last part was saddening at first but I am happy for Kerry and Doug. They are such a dynamic couple and I am in awe of them and what they have accomplished.

She did something special for all that ever entered this competition…she gave us the courage to dream big and he supported her from beginning to end. I had the fortune of working with them directly last summer prepping for the show. They are such a wonderful couple.

She expected and made us work harder to make those dreams come true. I was so grateful for the conversations we had during the time we spent together working.

She also gave people the opportunity to meet and learn from their favorite cake decorating and sugar artists from all over the world because we were all together under one roof for those 3 days every year for 25 years. The Fun with Sugar event before and the classes held after the show was always a great experience to learn from the best.

We developed a sense of community that will be with us always. This community spirit helped us grow.

I overheard someone say we will never be the same after the announcement of the show’s end because they were upset. They were right, we will never be the same…we will be better. We have high expectations now of how we work and create.

Thank you for giving us 25 years of great memories, fun, laughter, tears of happiness, joy, heartache, dreams, disasters, learning opportunities, competitive spirit, friends and most of all our sugar family. I wish you both nothing but the best.