Five Hills royalty earn sweet rewards in WestFest kolache eating contest

Special to Leader-Press 

The red lighted numbers on the time clock overhead clicked away as three minutes quickly ran out for the contestants in the WestFest Kolache Eating Contest at theaannual Texas festival. But five-year old Naomi Williams was not letting her age or her tiny mouth be factors in the competition as she held her own and pulled out a third place win gobbling down a kolache the size of a dinner plate.
“It tasted like jelly and sweet bread. It was kind of dry, I had to drink a lot of water,” the Five Hills Junior Ambassador said. “I thought I could do it because I love to eat. I would have eaten them all if i had more time.”
Preteen Miss Five Hills Kaydence Roberts edged out Williams by eating one and one-half kolaches, placing second in the contest.
“I was super excited and nervous to compete in the contest this year. I competed two years ago but I wasn’t even able to finish one kolache,” the 11-year old said. “When they said ‘go’ and we all began eating our kolaches, we took bite after bite and drank water as the timer ticked away. At the final countdown, ‘5-4-3-2-1...,’ I shoved the last bit of kolache in my mouth that I could.  We then cleaned our hands and face waiting for them to tally up the results.” 
Both Roberts and Williams received wooden, hand-painted Czech-themed awards and festival t-shirts. 
“When they called my name that I took second place, I was surprised with excitement because I thought maybe I hadn’t eaten enough to place,” Roberts said. “I will hang this proudly on my wall. Remember, never give up until the bell has rung.”
WestFest was not the only road trip the royalty took over Labor Day weekend. The titleholders represented Copperas Cove in the Hamilton County Dove Festival Parade. Five Hills Ambassador Briana Liles said the royalty are often the only experience residents in other communities may have with Copperas Cove.
“It is good for us to visit other communities as royalty because we can educate those residents on what Cove has to offer. It is important for us to be there so we can tell them about our city’s events like Rabbit Fest and Krist Kindl Markt. They often take photos of us and read our sashes and then look the city up on the computer,” the 10-year old said. “We talk with people when visiting their communities and they ask us about Cove. We tell them what a great city (Copperas) Cove is and all the wonderful things it has to offer.”