Kayla Arneson of Lincoln was the winner of the state Apple Pie Eating Contest July 4.
The event was held at the Seward Band Shell on July 4. Arneson was presented with the new State Apple Pie Eating Champion Trophy with a special USA-250 semiquincentennial design. The contest is sponsored by the Seward Rotary Club.
Division winners included Owen Hill of Omaha, age 12, kids/preteens; Kyle Richter of Houston, Texas, men’s division; Wilson Buckley of Ames, Iowa, teens; Kayla Arneson of Lincoln and Ella Moll of Seward, tie in the women’s division; David Hill of Omaha, athletes; Mark Arneson of Lincoln, over 60; and Doug Schmidt of Morganton, North Carolina, open class.
The State of Nebraska Bubble Gum Bubble Blowing Championship was also decided at the Band Shell on July 4, sponsored by the Seward Rotary Club for all ages. There were three divisions, Pre-Teen, Teen and Adult.
The state champion was Annie Curtis of Seward, age 14, who had won the Teen Division. She was presented a special USA-250 State Championship Bubble Gum Blowing Contest trophy, honoring the USA-250 semiquincentennial of the United States of America.
Preliminary winners included Preteen Division, Thomas Styskal of Papillion; Teenager Division, Annie Curtis, age 14; and Adult Division, Tie: Patrick Campbell of Dallas, Texas, and Bryan DeWilde of Omaha and Mara Dobesh of Wahoo.
The contests were sponsored by the Seward Rotary, and judges were Rotarians Dr. Matt Dominy, Doug Gremel, Greg Zabka, Dr. Dylan Teut and Sen. Jana Hughes. They were assisted by Rotarians Anita Foor, Greg Zabka, Mark Kolterman and Rick Grey. Rotarian Jessica Kolterman served as the scribe and Rotarian Clark Kolterman was the emcee.
Helpers included Jocelyn Grey, Linda Kolterman, Dixie Zabka, Sue Brockhoff and Riley Nuttleman. Rotary President Anita Foor presented the winner the special USA-250 State Championship trophy to Kayla Arneson of Lincoln.
In a side note, Tim Cartwright, winner of the 1976 state apple pie eating contest, presented a special t-shirt to Arneson with a photo of himself receiving the trophy in 1976 from Clark Kolterman.
Cartwright went on to win the contest three times and is now retired from the competition. Kolterman was also given a shirt to commemorate the event 50 years ago, when Cartwright was a student at Concordia College (now university) in Seward.
