ALLEGED TROUBLE MAKER.
SUNDRIDGE – Regular attendees of the Sundridge Fall fair are eagerly anticipating another round of the cut throat sport of cake decorating.
A rivalry between the Village Mayor and a seemingly recent arrival to town is promising to provide edge-of-your-seat entertainment to spectators of the cake-decorating contest slated for 2 p.m. inside the arena on Sept. 15.
It all began with the apple-peeling contest two years ago but last year, when the competition turned to cake decorating and Old Mother Hubbard arrived on scene, things took a turn for the worse for Mayor Elgin Schneider.
“The first year was the apple peeling contest. I had them hands down,” said the mayor, speculating that things were fixed after that when a series of events led to the first prize going to Sundridge/Strong fire chief Wayne Beavis.
Schneider says he is still prepared to face the competition but says he has no chance of winning now that the Old Mother Hubbard has been made one of the judges.
The cake decorating pits local municipal leaders against emergency services and is meant to be a fun competition but things got particularly messy last year and Schneider suspects that won’t change.
“It will be fixed,” he said. “But, I’ll go with an open mind.”
According to Sundridge resident Barry Hubbert, who spoke on behalf of the woman he says is his neighbour, the woman was disqualified from last year’s event for her behaviour after allegations of cheating as a participant.
“She says they’re false but he’s the mayor and she has respect for his high office,” says Hubbert. “Old Mother Hubbard says somebody planted false evidence”
“She’d better get a lawyer,” said Schneider who alleges that the competition was fixed from the start and thinks that either Hubbard or Hubbert or both were involved and is confident that things won’t change this year, particularly now that Hubbard will be judging the competition.
“They gave me a soft cake and frozen icing,” said Schneider.
There was also the store-bought cake that suddenly appeared on the table before Hubbard.
Schneider speculates that there is a relationship between the retired police officer Hubbert and the old woman Hubbard.
“That’s the only reason she’s not in jail,” he said. “They have to be related.”
There may be some truth in the relationship speculation between the woman and the retired OPP officer. Although Hubbert maintains that the woman is just a neighbour that he helps out from time to time, the two have never been seen together much like Clark Kent and Superman or Peter Parker and Spiderman, but much, much worse.
Schneider says that things may be different this year now that OPP Const. Louise Maki will be representing the OPP.
Maki says she has had concerns about fair play and notes that in past competition there does seem to be a bias toward the fire department, of which Hubbert is a volunteer firefighter.
“I am just going to be there to keep the peace and decorate my cake,” she said. “Even if I have to stand between the two of them.”
Although the Almaguin News questions whether she too may have something up her sleeve, Maki replied, “You’ll just have to be there to find out.”