Shortcake-Eating Contest Gets 1st Female Winner

Michelle Stringer last week claimed a slice of Florida Strawberry Festival history.

The 24-year-old college student on her spring break became the first woman to win the festival's shortcake-eating contest.

Stringer, a first-year graduate student at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, downed four pounds of shortcake in 10 minutes on Thursday to claim a trophy and bragging rights.

"I can't believe I ate that whole thing," Stringer said, clutching a trophy topped with a figure of a golden pig.

Stringer, who is studying physical therapy, said she attended the festival last year but didn't know about the shortcake contest until it was too late. She made sure she entered in plenty of time this year.

Barbara Caccamisi, who headed the competition, said the contests have been held for about 30 years, sponsored by St. Clement Catholic Church, which has a shortcake stand at the festival. Ten competitors were picked at random and four pounds of shortcake placed in front of them. The one to eat the entire shortcake - or come the closest - in 10 minutes is the winner, she said.

For the first seven minutes, the contestants use a spoon. For the final three minutes, they use their hands.

In Stringer's case, she mopped up the last of the cake just as time was expiring.

Stringer and the other competitors - seven women and three men - were cheered on by strawberry festival queen Lauren Der and her court and a crowd that jammed into the Stingray Entertainment Tent. Tony Defrancesco used a scale to ensure each shortcake weighed four pounds as he heaped berries and whipped cream on oversized yellow cakes.

The contest's emcee, retired Plant City fire chief Wesley Rounds, noted that 55-gallon trash cans were strategically placed behind the contestants. "Do I need to explain why they are there?" Rounds asked, eliciting a roar of laughter from the crowd.

Defrancesco later confided that in his 10 years helping with the contest, "I haven't seen anyone throw up yet."

After the contest Stringer posed for photographs with her trophy. Defrancesco posed for one shot with her, noting that she lives in Philadelphia and he used to live in Pittsburgh.

Stringer said she didn't starve herself for the contest, eating a regular breakfast and lunch. Stringer, who said she is in the area visiting her sister, Christiana Stringer of Brandon, said she likes shortcake, but not usually in such quantity.

Rounds, who himself is a former shortcake-eating champ, said the contest has one purpose: "The whole thing is designed to be fun."