It was a normal day at The Cube on Friday, where residents, first responders and members of local organizations signed up to compete … in a doughnut eating contest?
In its inaugural Donut Day event, to commemorate National Donut Day, The Salvation Army Santa Clarita Valley Corps encouraged residents to not only sign up to compete, but also cheer on all five heats as the winners earned a doughnut trophy in their respective heat. In addition, in a bucket placed by each of the contestants, the winner’s bucket was selected to announce a raffle winner.
The afternoon event created a high level of energy during the contest, and later on a VIP reception was held to honor Bob Kellar, Salvation Army board member and former Santa Clarita councilman.
“During World War I, the general of the Salvation Army at the time decided to send volunteers to go to the front lines to help the soldiers with spiritual care, but also with anything they had. At the time, they had very little supplies, so the ladies began to cool doughnuts on the soldiers’ hats and give them doughnuts and coffee for free,” said Capt. Rafael Viana, corps officer at the SCV Salvation Army.
According to Viana, the event is meant to honor the soldiers who were known as the “doughboys,” and the women as “doughnut lassies.”
“We’re honoring those who have served, but also continuing to serve the community these days in different ways. People are coming to eat doughnuts, but not just for the sake of eating doughnuts, but to really recognize the service that is given by the community, but to the community in giving back and putting others first,” Viana said.
Among the teams competing, including the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station and even the city of Santa Clarita, competitiveness was an understatement.
“We’re super excited to be here to represent the Fire Department. Any competition against the sheriff’s and the city is great. It doesn’t matter if it’s doughnut eating or running up the towers at Magic Mountain, we’re always ready to show up,” said L.A. County Fire Department Acting Assistant Chief Pat Sprengel.
The friendly rivalry makes the events in Santa Clarita fun, according to Sprengel.
“Santa Clarita is a tight community, and public safety is the same way. We always like to have the competitiveness between the Fire Department, sheriff’s and the city. It’s a great city to work for and a great community to work in and we always look forward to events like this because it’s fun,” Sprengel said.
Carrie Lujan, chair of the board of the Salvation Army and communications manager for the city of Santa Clarita, was rooting for a win by her fellow city participants.
“The Salvation Army has a rich history with doughnuts … so we thought, ‘What can we do with Donut Day?’ We’re going to do a doughnut eating contest. People are super excited, we have a huge turnout today,” Lujan said. “I have to represent my people, so I’m hoping the city team takes it. For the previous competitions we’ve done, the city and Fire Department have won, so I know that sheriff’s is really going to want this one.”
Lujan’s prediction was right.
Prior to the competition, the city’s record of eating doughnut holes in two minutes was 22, according to Dave Caldwell, The Master University’s sports information director and event co-host, along with Mayor Cameron Smyth.
When Smyth was asked by Caldwell if he believed the 54 contestants could beat the record, Smyth responded:
“No, absolutely not. We have a bunch of amateurs here.”
Nearly 10 minutes later, Smyth was proved wrong, as Samuel Curameng from the SCV Sheriff’s Station won the first heat with 27 doughnut holes.
For more information on The Salvation Army, visit https://santaclarita.salvationarmy.org.
