This year the economy, the weather, the U.S. Postal Service, and sheer dumb luck conspired against the Cookie Walk. But, despite the odds stacked against it, St Stephen’s 26th Annual Cookie Walk was nonetheless a remarkable success.
Parish Life Committee Treasurer, Cindy Baker, reported that takings on the day of the Cookie Walk itself totalled a hefty $8,214. That’s no small potatoes … and an awful lot of cookies.
While receipts for the day were below last year’s total figure, it should be remembered that sales continue two weeks or so after the Cookie Walk closes its doors. Thus this year’s total can be expected to increase considerably, although it is unlikely to equal or exceed 2015’s record-breaking total of $9,736.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but a number of factors appear to have been working against this year’s Cookie Walk, not least the feeble economy and consequent weak consumer confidence.
The weather also played a role in depressing sales. With Christmas still three weeks away, mild weather does not encourage folks to get into the Yuletide spirit. There’s nothing like a nice cold snap for cookie sales.
Cookie Walk servers in action
And the failure of the U.S. Post Office to deliver our press handout to the Towson Times and The Sun paper in time for publication meant the word did not get out to many of our regulars. Next year we will forget about snail mail and notify them by e-mail.
Finally in this sad saga, our intrepid jam maker, Cindy Baker, injured her shoulder half-way through her production run and was only able to produce about half of her usual quantity.
Cindy’s jams are deservedly a great favourite. Even so, perhaps some other folks might also consider stepping up to the jam-making plate next year.
However, one cannot reasonably expect to break records every year. The world just doesn’t work that way. And it would be sheer ingratitude not to recognise that this year’s Cookie Walk was indeed another tremendous success—thanks once again to your wonderful cookies.
The parish owes all this to extraordinary teamwork on the part of the Parish Life Committee crew, headed by the redoubtable Dick and Priscilla Huffman.
A special vote of thanks goes to Cookie Walk coordinator, Brock Johnson; his brilliant assistant, Colby Hawks; Martha Miller, who fearlessly tackles the jobs nobody else has the stomach to take on; and Reta Richardson and her cookie sales crew.
But, actually, it is unfair to single out particular individuals for praise when so many were involved and when everybody worked so hard. The real heroes of this success story are you, the parishioners.
It is your talents, your crafts, and above all your glorious, utterly scrumptious cookies that have transformed the Saint Stephen’s Cookie Walk from a humble church fundraiser to a Baltimore institution.
Putting on such an event is an immensely stressful business, but the good humour, kindness, and tolerance for which St Stephen’s is noted ensured things ran as smoothly as possible.
We know that it’s tough to summon up the enthusiasm to begin your Christmas baking ahead of time—especially when the temperature is in the balmy 50 degrees Fahrenheit—but every year you’ve come through and created a selection of fabulous cookies that have become a neighbourhood byword.
Cookie Walk, unlike other church bazaars, is all home-made. We don’t use vendors, but rest our reputation of each of you. You have never let us down. You are the folks who give the Christmas spirit especially delicious flavour. COH
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