Today has been Fruitcake Toss day and one of the weirder ones so far.
According to Daysoftheyear.com Fruitcake Toss day is celebrated on the 6th January (First Saturday of January)…but today was a Sunday…either way I’ve gone with it.
“Manitou Springs has hosted the Fruitcake Toss tournament every year since 1995. During the competition, fruitcakes are thrown, hurled, catapulted and cannoned into the air using a range of inventive devices. Those braving this event would be wise to remember to look up occasionally – a frozen fruitcake in the face is a formidable force when fired from an exercise-bike-powered cannon.
Participants are expected to bring their own fruitcakes which should contain candied fruits, nuts and of course, flour, and not any inedible substances. The fruitcakes are inspected by the “Fruitcake Toss Tech Inspectors” before they are allowed to be used for competition to make sure they do not contain any substances hard enough to hurt a person that may get hit in the head with a flying fruitcake. However, you happen to forget your fruitcake at home, you may rent one on the spot.
The Distance Competition is about hurling a 2-pound fruitcake as far as possible. The winner is the person able to hurl the fruitcake the farthest. The distance is measured at the final resting spot of the fruitcake, not where it first hits the ground.”
I’d been out today and figured I’d swing past the supermarket on the way home. I’d assumed that they would be open till 6, but they weren’t. Fruitcakeless I wondered through Stratford. Lidl? Closed. Morrisons? Closed. Greggs? Only sad looking doughnuts. The Bakery? When asked if they had fruitcake pointed me towards a summerfruits gateau in a freezer. Our cornerstore? Various small cakes, none fruity or large enough. The other cornerstore? Finally success in the form of ‘a lightly fruited sponge containing rasins and mixed spice’.
I got home and weighed my fruitcake so I could find out how closely we were playing to the official rules. Turns out closer than I would have thought with an official weight of 343g (check out TastyBake being the MVP of the cake aisle with an extra free 13g) or 0.75lb, so not that close to the offical rules.
As it was now well and truely dark the park was shut so we decided to throw it down the street when it was quiet. We waited a couple of hours and then it was Toss time!
(VIDEO PLACEHOLDER FOR WHEN I MANAGE TO CONVERT IT TO UPLOAD PROPERLY)
David when got out the offical tape measure and as the cake was pretty much intact had his own attempt at tossing it.
The Results
Eme - 26.5ft
David - 40.1ft
Overall Fruitcake day: 8/10
I suffered a crushing defeat but I did have a lot of fun lobbing a fruitcake down a street (while a cat quietly judged us). Not something I would have thought I’d be doing a week ago when I started this madness, I’m very much enjoying the wierdness it’s bringing to my life.
I felt some guilt at literally throwing out perfectly good food but I was able to apease it by donating the same amount I’d spent to our local food bank online.