The air was thick with the tantalizing aroma of sugary treats as 200 tasters followed a confectionary trail through the Heritage Center, sampling enticing cupcakes created by professional and home bakers at the seventh annual Jeane Graves Cupcake Challenge to raise funds for Parkinson’s research.
Competitors left it all on the spatula with creations resembling everything from cotton candy to s’mores, and ingredients from bacon to honey. Attendees chose their favorites by placing tickets at each table and then the top five cupcakes were sampled by judges Chris Babcock and Cecily Harmon of Team Fox and local artist Tom LaBaff. The pool of 10 home bakers and two professionals was judged on decoration, cupcake and frosting.
Peachy Keen, the Best Overall Professional Cupcake winner, featured chunks of peaches, vanilla bean buttercream and raspberry compote with orange meringue on top. And Butter Beer, the Best Overall Homemade Baker concoction, was reminiscent of Harry Potter’s favorite butterscotch-flavored drink. In addition to all-important bragging rights, winning culinary artists received a Goldtouch Cupcake Baking Pan from Williams Sonoma at Vero Beach Outlets.
Attendees got more than a sugar rush from the event, knowing that their donations would help further research toward a cure for Parkinson’s disease, a life-altering, progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects up to 1 million people in the United States.
“Team Fox is the grassroots, caregiving portion of the Michael J. Fox Foundation,” explained Team Fox member Bob Harmon, who was diagnosed with the disease 10 years ago. “We host events and give the money to the Fox Foundation and they put it toward research for a cure.”
“Both of our parents had Parkinson’s disease, and we want to do our part to help find a cure,” said Janie Graves Hoover.
Hoover and her sisters, Julia Graves and Jeane Graves Bartlett, created the fundraiser in honor of their mother, Jeane Graves, who passed away in 2010. Five years later they lost their father, Hubert Graves, to the same devastating disease.
“In September, our family went to Chicago to attend a Pizza Throw-down and ran the Chicago Half Marathon with Team Fox. Judy and I will participate in the Disney running events in January, too,” shared Hoover, of some of the other Parkinson’s fundraising efforts they participate in.
A recent Team Fox Wine Tasting event was added to their local efforts this year, and they plan to participate in a golf tournament in Winter Haven and in Pints 4 Parkinson’s in Orlando.
For the Graves family, no distance is too great to travel to help raise awareness and funds to find a cure for Parkinson’s, an illness whose consequences they’ve seen firsthand.