New baking competition brings bakers to Ozark Empire Fair

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-The first weekend of the Ozark Empire Fair is ending off on a sweet note.

This afternoon the Life and Arts Department hosted a few new baking competitions, including the new King Arthur baking competition.

Traci Dunn is the Life and Arts Exhibits Director at the fair and says this is the first time the event has been sponsored.

“I reached out to the national company, and they sent me the information,” Dunn said. “So, they sponsored the contest, fantastic prizes, and obviously with ten entries in adults, we had a fantastic competition.”

Wendy Bennett was the first-place muffin baker in today’s competition, outbakeing nine other contestants with her blueberry muffins. She is also a former judge of this event, so she says she understands what the competition is like

“I’m shocked because I know there’s excellent bakers here, because in addition to entering in the past, I’ve judged here, so I know how good the competition is,” Bennett said. “And that’s what makes it so special because is because there are really good bakers.”

The top three bakers were awarded a ribbon and a gift card to the King Arthur baking website. The recipe Bennett used is one she has made since her kids were young but today, she did something a little different.

“I made this recipe when my kids were young and my younger son was always like, ‘why can’t you make muffins like Jan? It’s a recipe I have used for a long time. But I tweaked it today with the tweak I have never done. So, it was like, okay, it worked,” Bennett said.

While the baking contests are friendly fun, Dunn says she wants people to get something out of all the exhibits.

“My goal as director is to make sure that we are interactive, that we are educational, hence the judges asking for questions because I want the public to be able to come away with something, saying hey, I can do that too.”

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