Five Hills royalty take the cake at YMCA Halloween festival

Special to Leader-Press

As Cadence Church Senior Pastor Joe Bernier stopped the music, both children and adults scurried to put both of their feet on a brightly colored number. The cakewalk was popular among all ages at the Copperas Cove Y-M-C-A annual Halloween festival.
Young Miss Five Hills Angelica Torres not only won a miniature cake but also won the grand prize cake as she and more than 20 others stopped and started based on the sound of the music.
“I enjoyed representing the Miss Five Hills Scholarship Program with my pageant sisters at the YMCA festival,” Torres said. “I also really enjoyed participating in the cakewalk. Winning the big cake was just a bonus.”    
Preteen Miss Five Hills Kaydence Roberts was also extremely lucky in the cakewalk.
“I had a great time at the YMCA doing the cakewalk where I won five times and went home with a handful of treats,” Roberts said, giggling.   
Five Hills Ambassador Briana Liles never won in the cakewalk despite multiple attempts.
“It was fun doing the cake walk because it gets the adrenaline going because you don’t know if you will make it to a number in time to stay in the game,” Liles said.
The titleholders also enjoyed creating their own hula-hoop contest in which other children quickly joined. To wrap up the event, the royalty judged the costume contest selecting winners in the categories of Cutest, Most Unique and Best Homemade costumes. 
“It was a lot of fun having the opportunity to judge all the amazing costumes,” said Junior Miss Five Hills Hayley Sawyer. “You could tell they put a lot of time and effort into them.”
Liles agreed. 
“I really enjoyed seeing all the costumes because everyone’s creativity really showed through,” she said. 
More than 20 children and families lined up hoping their costumes would win prizes.
“I liked seeing all of the different costumes,” said Junior Mister Five Hills Jackson Gibbs. “It was hard to pick a winner.”
Y-M-C-A Director Doreen Vasseur said Copperas Cove is very blessed by the hard working royalty who spend so much of their time volunteering for the community. 
“I am blessed to have such an awesome relationship with the royalty and love that they are always ready to join in and help even when they have their own events on the same day,” Vasseur said. 
Sr. Ms. Five Hills Donna Higgins said the YMCA event brought back many memories. 
“I grew up with cake walks and hula hoop contests and I got to experience both at the YMCA,” Higgins. “As a grandma now, I made some very special memories with my royalty family.”