Backlash erupts after Ohio baker wins at Kentucky State Fair. ‘Should be disqualified’

A baker from Ohio is addressing a mutiny of public backlash after winning a top prize at the Kentucky State Fair.

Karri Perry’s blue ribbon in the “Your Favorite Cake” competition at the annual fair in Kentucky this month was met with criticism by people who felt an out-of-state participant should not have been eligible to win.

“I feel it’s a slap in the face to all the bakers in Kentucky,” one state resident said in a letter to the editor published by the Louisville Courier Journal.

“Ohio cake contest winner should be disqualified,” another person said.

Perry, who according to WKRC is from the Cincinnati area, maintains she followed the rules.

The Kentucky State Fair does not list information about where participants must be from, but a fair spokesperson told WKRC it welcomes “those around the region” to compete.

“This past week probably should have been fantastic, but it wasn’t,” Perry said in a Facebook post Aug. 20. “I had hoped I would not need to address anything about this ‘controversy’ because I didn’t want to breathe life into all the hateful comments I was receiving.”

Perry won the “Your Favorite Cake” award with her Peachy KEENtucky Cake. The particular category is considered “one of the fair’s top traditions and a big challenge to bakers,” the Courier-Journal reported.

Of Perry’s 11 entries at the fair, it was one of her three first-place awards. She said she won third place in the same contest in 2023 but there was no backlash.

But after her latest blue ribbon, the baker said she has received “unkind comments” due to her Ohio residency.

“Perhaps the controversy here is with the Kentucky State Fair’s position/rules regarding welcoming exhibitors from around the region,” she said. “Hopefully folks can separate their disagreement with current rules from my entry, and from me as a person.”

Perry, who shares her recipes and baking tips on her website, has won more than 150 blue ribbons in 17 years as a competitive baker, according to her website.

“Whatever the rules are going forward, of course, I’ll always abide by those,” Perry told WKRC. “My intention was never to upset anyone. It was simply to bake the best cake I could bake.”

This story was originally published August 21, 2024 at 1:56 PM with the headline "Backlash erupts after Ohio baker wins at Kentucky State Fair. ‘Should be disqualified’."