Cookin’ on the Coosa MacDown event poster featuring a mac and cheese noodle in sunglasses. Listed
on the poster are the sponsors of the event including some contestants in the competition.
A mac and cheese lover’s dream
By: Makenzie Martin
WETUMPKA, Ala. — More than 300 mac and cheese enthusiasts were found in Merchants Alley in Wetumpka this Saturday tasting and judging Mac and Cheese cook-off entries. The Three Noodles Team, Team Joseph and Coosa Cleaver took home the mac and cheese champion title.
The Cookin’ on the Coosa event was hosted by the Family Sunshine Center (FSC) to raise proceeds for domestic violence and sexual assault victims. According to Christy Cruse, the FSC Public Affairs and Development Director, this event included 30 cheese filled entries all aiming to be crowned the MacDown Champion. “Entries are here to be a voice for leaders in the community and to believe in change in conversation,” said Cruse.
The first Cookin’ on the Coosa event was last year’s Food Truck Festival hosted by the FSC also to support the FSC program. “Proceeds go to supporting survivors of family violence, sexual assault and trafficking,” said Cruse. According to the FSC website, one in four women will be victims of domestic violence in their lifetime and every 73 seconds someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted. According to Cliff Williams from The Wetumpka Herald, supporting these survivors and the FSC was the motivating factor for these businesses and locals to cook five gallons of their unique, ooey-gooey mac and cheese dishes.
Entrance wristbands were $10 each which included access to tasting all macaroni and cheese entries, free cold drinks and two voting tickets. The voting tickets were colored either yellow for amateur entries or blue for professional entries such as restaurants. While this cheesy extravaganza encouraged participants to “be the judge” of this noodle dominating event, the FSC also brought in professional judges from culinary schools in the area, according to Cruse.
Macaroni and cheese lovers and attendees of this event Vanessa Royal, Amber Sutton, Katie Worthy, Ashlyn Payne and Paige Rodman struggled picking which entry would win their vote. According to Worthy and Payne, they ended up voting for the amateur mac and cheese recipe “Autumn Splendor Cavatappi” made by Team Joseph from the Joseph Salon located in Montgomery.
Creative recipe names were used to encourage judging patrons to remember the entries, such as “Mac & Fleas” made by the Golden Noodle Doodles (the Bryson Veterinary Clinic), “Hot Pot Trot by Smokin’ on a Pot” (the Wetumpka Fire Department) and the “Yellow Daffo-Noodles” by the Daffodil Domination Nation (the Yellow Daffodil boutique in downtown Wetumpka).
Raffle prizes were offered at the business contestant booths including the FSC’s booth. The Joseph Salon offered a free raffle ticket to win a large gift bag packed full of salon products. The opportunity to win items donated from local businesses such products from Flare Candles and a Palm Beach Tan package worth a retail value of $300 was presented by the FSC for only $5 a raffle ticket. Free items were also being offered to attendees such as lip balm, travel sized skin care items and coupons to various businesses. Some coupons were located on the bottom of plates for a “hide- and-seek” style game.
The event finished with the announcement of the winners according to voting by participants and judges. The judges pick for the amateur category was the Three Noodles team with their trio of smoked brisket, cowboy style and fried mac and cheese. Team Joseph won the participants favorite amateur booth, and the judges second choice, with their “Autumn Splendor Cavatappi” which included squash, almond toppings and other autumnal mixings. The Coosa Cleaver booth won the professional category voted first place by both judges and participants. Their recipe included lobster and crab mac and cheese topped with smoked brisket and a homemade BBQ sauce.
The FSC plans to host the Cookin’ on the Coosa event again next year in mid-October. For more information on the MacDown event or to support the FSC, check out their website.