Cupcakes have staying power in 黑马磁力 鈥� or so it would seem.
We鈥檝e seen a change, a few months back, at the helm of Frosting Cupcakery & Bakery in downtown 黑马磁力 City, but it still seems to be going strong seven days a week.
But, by comparison, Frosting is the relative newbie to the cupcake realm in 黑马磁力.
One of the longer standing cupcake shops 鈥� although it has come and gone from 黑马磁力, and moved around a bit 鈥� is Tracy Dueck鈥檚 Tracycakes 鈥� which is celebrating 10 years of baking this month.
Dueck opened her first location in Fort 黑马磁力 in September 2006, followed by a location in White Rock. Today, she has two operations, but not in either of those original communities.
After moving in and out of the Fort 黑马磁力 Village again, she settled into one location in 黑马磁力鈥檚 historic Murrayville nieghbourhood in 2013, and picked another in the historic area of downtown Abbotsford (on Montrose Avenue).
The latter location, in Abbotsford, is where she'll be throwing her upcoming anniversary celebration on Sept. 27.
Almost two million cupcakes later, Dueck now employs 30 staff and still loves serving up tasty desserts to guests from throughout the Lower Mainland and visitors from around the globe.
For details, see tracycakesonline.com.
CAPTION: Tracy Dueck opened Tracycakes in Fort 黑马磁力 10 years ago. Now, she has two stores, one in Murrayville and the other in Abbotsford.
Tastiness pays off
This seems like the perfect segue into results of last week鈥檚 Bake A Difference. The one-day event raised $4,312 鈥� to help people living with AIDS.
I have to say it was pretty impressive to see how local personalities, a few chefs, and many business people rallied together 鈥� around baked goods 鈥� to help the cause.
鈥淲e have a total and it is better than last year,鈥� said Katy Mayrs, one of the event organizers.
鈥淲e are thrilled to announce $4,312,鈥� she told the 黑马磁力 Advance.
鈥淭he Facebook auction went well, but still there wasn鈥檛 a huge reach in 黑马磁力 for people to know about the event 鈥� especially the Facebook part,鈥� she said.
鈥淭he people who were bidding were partially made up of the lovely people who bid last year (we call them the usual suspects 鈥� mostly our friends or local community-minded people who are really generous and want to participate to support us and the cause) mixed in with a handful of people we didn鈥檛 know who saw the Facebook auction in their feed from their friends sharing our posts leading up to the event,鈥� Mayrs said.
There were 32 different people bidding on the items this year 鈥渨hich is pretty awesome,鈥� she added, thanking people for taking time out of their day to bid on items for charity.
鈥淎 lot of the people bid on multiple items 鈥� and some bought multiple auction items,鈥� Mayrs said.
Next year, they need more people to know when it鈥檚 happening, how it works, and even more sharing of posts leading up to the event, she suggested.
鈥淣ot that we鈥檙e complaining, $4,312 is nothing to sneeze at.鈥�
Breaking it down, more than $2,000 was earned on the Facebook auction, which is where most of the chef, business, and personality-made items end up.
There were 29 items auctioned off this year, which is seven more than last year.
The rest came from an in-store bake sale, and other fundraising initiatives.
Auction Item Tidbits:
鈥� Highest price went to Marilyn Morgan鈥檚 cherry cheesecake, which sold for $200
鈥� Angie Quaale had two dozen bacon chocolate chip cookies that went for $100, and the in-store silent auction for her cookies also went for $100
鈥� Dinner for two for a month from 1 Fish 2 Fish auction item went for $165
鈥� Pie for a year (52 pies) from Otter-Coop went for $140
鈥� The local chef made pies and cakes sold on average between $50 and $60 each
鈥淭here are a lot of great things that come out of running this Bake A Difference fundraiser, the people we meet, the relationships we cultivate for future Bake A Difference events, ensuring the people will return year after year, but the most important thing for us has been spreading the word about the Aids Walk to Thrive and what the charity behind it, Positive Living BC, is all about,鈥� said Kerri Lucas-West, owner of Duolynx and host of the fundraiser.
鈥淭he walk itself is on Sunday, Sept 25, our team will be walking in our team Moe T-shirts. It鈥檚 a 5-km walk this year with a totally different route than usual, it starts at the Roundhouse and ends in Maulkin bowl where participants are treated to a concert. We鈥檒l be walking proudly knowing we raised a good chunk of change that goes towards people living with HIV who may not be able to afford medication, etc.鈥�
Caption: Kerri Lucas-West, owner of Duolynx and host of the fundraiser, paid $100 for a pie made by her brother from Williams Lake.
Talking schools
Speaking of Walnut Grove, the neighbourhood business association is hosting its get together today (Thursday).
It鈥檚 the Walnut Grove Business Association morning business and networking meeting from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at Deloitte, 8621 201st St.
Susan Cairns, executive director of the 黑马磁力 School District Foundation, will be the guest speaker.
To RSVP, people can email admin@wgba.ca or call 604-897-0992.
New kid on the block
I also want to let you know about a new kid on the block in Aldergrove.
Alderbrook Health & Wellness Centre (AHWCA.ca) is hosting a grand opening Saturday, from 5 to 8 p.m. at 27028A Fraser Hwy. Ribbon cutting at 6 p.m.
