Baked goods battle not for the faint of heart

At some point this Saturday afternoon, folks will start trickling into the Red Barn at the county fairgrounds. They’ll greet each other, tipping cowboy hats and ball caps, and settle into folding chairs. Hints of vanilla and yeast will perfume the air. After the 4-H livestock sale next door ends, seats will fill quickly and by 3:30 p.m., the room will be packed.

The County Fair’s annual baked goods auction will be on.

Here is what almost certainly will go down over the next 90 minutes or so: Ray Lagerquist, Luke Vossler and Josh Morris, along with various kids and grandkids, will happily wage a bidding war, competing for bragging rights — and they may well brag, and laugh — over a pie or a plate of chocolate chip cookies. Bruce Giulio will try to game the competition, forcing others to jack up their prices. And Helen Carey’s famous lemon-orange layer cake will sell for, no kidding, many hundreds of dollars.