Art and Baking Collide in this Contest of Culinary Champions!

EVENT REPORT
Our Big Bookish Bake-Off has concluded and our entries did not disappoint! Special thanks to ye few but mighty who participated!

Elementary Winner Tessa Heideman did “The Secret Garden Gate” in chocolate cake, pretzel sticks, and fondant.

Teen Winner Hallie Heideman portrayed Hydra Heads from “Percy Jackson” using Rice Crispy Treats, colored cake for the ocean, and fondant.

Adult Winner Kristen Heideman presented “Little House in the Big Woods” using spice cake, pretzel sticks, and fondant.

An Honorable Mention award goes to “Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein” submitted by Chad Jones, a real monster mash of a cake with 7 unique layers, 3 different frosting types and no reason for the combination of flavors to work as well together as they did.

Special thanks to our community guest judges, Serena Huerter, Michaela Hermesch, and Kylee Bergstrom, who shared their creative and culinary expertise! We had a blast working with our judges and learned a lot of really cool baking and frosting/decorating tips along the way!

Director Kate says to plan for Season 2 of Big Bookish Bake-Off airing in September 2026 right here at Seneca Free Library!

ORIGINAL POST
On Thursday, October 2, 2025 the Seneca Free Library will be hosting its first ever Big Bookish Bake-Off – a creative cooking contest with a “Novel” theme.

Contestants in three age categories are encouraged to come up with a fun, clever, creative, or down right punny presentation inspired by or taken from your favorite book or book character.

Judging guidelines will be based on:
1. Overall Appearance and Theme Representation – How does it look overall and does it provide a clear connection to the literary reference being depicted? Is it particularly clever, humorous, or well-depicted?

2. Level of Difficulty in Overall Construction – How much time, effort, and technique appears to have been applied to the project? Was it well thought out or look thrown together for the sake of doing it?

3. Taste – Is it actually edible? Does it have a good flavor and texture? Does it look appealing to eat? Does something in the flavors or ingredients stand out as clearly connected to the theme or style of the book?

The Rules
1. One entry per person in any of the three age categories: elementary, high school, or adult.

2. 95% of the entry must be edible. A tray and other elements may be used for presentation purposes.

3. Entry must have literary reference inspired by a book, author, characters, poems, etc. Entry may look like a book, depict a scene from a book or a book character, involve a title or a pun based on a title, or be a recipe mentioned in a book (this includes recipes taken from cozy mysteries and similar books). Recipes taken directly from an actual cookbook, even those inspired by a book or series, do not qualify – which is to say, the cookbook itself does not qualify as a valid book to reference back to as your literary inspiration.

4. This is a “bake-off,” so the majority of the entry must be baked!

5. Each entry will be given a title card.

Entries must be in the library by 12 noon, Thursday, October 2, 2025

Be creative with your ingredients, designs, and decorations. The more innovative and original, the better!

For more information, feel free to drop by the circulation desk or call 785-336-2377.

Old Cell Phones and Devices Wanted

Looking for another opportunity to give back?

The American Legion Auxiliary (Unit 21-Seneca) is collecting the following items: cell phones (all smartphones and iPhones or flip phones), phone chargers and USB cords, iPads and non-Apple Tablets or eReaders, iPods and MP3 Players.

ALA will ship these items to Big Sky Recycling who will then donate the items to U.S. soldiers through Operation Shoebox or recycle the items that are broken or too far out-dated to be used. By donating your old cell phones and tablets you will help provide phones and phone cards through care packages to our troops deployed overseas and returning home.

Items for donation may be dropped off at the Seneca Free Library (606 Main St, Seneca, KS), The American Legion (Basement, 812 Main St, Seneca, KS), or Sts Peter and Paul Mission Center (409 Amador St, Seneca, KS). For more information or questions about specific items for donation, email alaseneca21@gmail.com

What NOT to Donate!

x Original Boxes or Instruction Manuals for phones.
x Computers, Laptops, or Computer Parts
x Landline Phones
x Printers or Ink Cartridges
x Cable Boxes
x Damaged Batteries for any devices.

What About Data Security?

Before donating any electronic device, it is advised that you first save any important content (photos, contacts, etc) and then perform a factory reset to erase all data. If you are unable to power on or perform the reset, rest assured Big Sky Recycling ensures data destruction on all recycled cell phones and devices.