THE GREAT STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE EATING CONTEST
While seeing some baseball was the main reason for this trip, a secondary reason was to attend the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City Florida. It reminded us a lot of the West Virginia State Fair. There were livestock exhibits (not nearly as many as the WV Fair), crafts and cooking contests, and of course, the normal commercial displays of everything from the ever-present waterless cookware, to the tractors, and various what-nots.
But the day we went, Senior Day, the main activity was the Strawberry Shortcake eating contest. The contest was put on by the local Catholic Church, St. Clement. St. Clement had a "build your own strawberry shortcake" booth, so I guess they considered this a part of their booth. They have been sponsoring both the booth and the contest for the last 35 years. I understand the "rules" have changed through the years, but I must admit, I think the current set made for a good contest.
The participants, except for last year's champion, were randomly drawn from among all those who had signed up to compete. Once they were all seated, the contest began. 
First, they constructed a 4 lb strawberry shortcake (they even had a scale to weigh each one). The "shortcakes" appeared to be 9" round layer cakes. Of course, they put lots of strawberries on, around and under the cakes. Then they piled the whole thing with gobs of whipped cream.
The contestants had 10 minutes in which to eat the strawberry shortcake.
But, wait there is more.
The first 2 minutes, they could only use their mouth. They could not use any utensils, they could not use their hands.
Then, they could begin eating using their utensils.
The last 3 minutes they were supposed to put their utensils down and just use their hands. But they never got that far. The winner, a man they called "Tiny" (he is on the far right in the picture above) finished off his cake in 5 minutes, 40 seconds. The runner-up, last year's champ, was close behind. He only had 2 ounces left on his plate.
I mean I like strawberry shortcake, but I would never enter this contest!
(But it was a lot of fun!)
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