You wouldn’t expect the pies to sell for tens of thousands of dollars, but that’s exactly what happened at this year’s Harrow Fair in Essex, Ontario over the weekend.
The annual cake auction was a favorite event for Harrow resident Lonie Kady. The late co-owner of the Hometown Family Pharmacy, who died in March, especially enjoyed the friendly banter that ensued from bidding on delicious desserts.
“Lonie was a great advocate for the community, [and] their way of giving back was always to participate in the bake auction every year,” said Candy Fielder, who co-owns the pharmacy with Kady.
“It gets a little funny when you bet against your archrival… You keep bidding and it goes on and on.”
community support
The people who knew Kady best decided to involve as many members of the community as possible in the Harrow Fair cake auction.
“We didn’t want the McGivney [Children’s] Center or other local businesses felt lost because he was not there; We wanted to continue his support of the community.”
“[He] he was a phenomenal guy [with] the biggest heart you’ve ever known in your life.”
The John McGivney Center in Windsor, Ontario, provides services to children with disabilities.
The center says the cake auction was organized in the name of Brad and Joanne Stannard 26 years ago and is still run by their family. The Stannards’ son, Todd, who died at age seven in 1975, had spina bifida and was a client of the McGivney center.
This year, the fundraiser far surpassed the previous record of $50,000.
“We are beyond grateful to the Stannard family, all the bakers, auctioneers and everyone who contributed to making this a great success,” CEO Jennifer Jovanovski said in a statement to Breaking:.
“These funds will help us run programs that are not normally funded with ministry dollars, including our life skills programs, transition to employment, and our summer camps.”
small town spirit
In Kady’s honor, the pharmacy decided to place an ad in the local Harrow News and encourage others to bid against the pharmacy.
“We had a huge and tremendous turnout [with] many deals [and] “A lot of fighting between individuals,” Fielder said. “We got a lot of pies.”
Despite the amount of competition, Fielder and his team would take home the first-place winning cake, a lime made by Mary Beth Little, for the price of $15,000.
And what does a $15,000 cake taste like?
One person who tried it described it as “better than sex,” according to Fielder.
“I’m going to have to agree with her on that,” he said with a laugh.
The pharmacy also bought other pies, spending $37,500 in total.
Combined with funds raised by other cake shoppers, a record $82,000 was raised for the center.
