We were once again honored to be the chosen beneficiary of the Annual Cedar Lakes Potjie Competition.
From as early as 7:30 am teams started to arrive at the clubhouse area of the beautiful Cedar Lakes Estate. The Stags were particularly organized and their pub themed stand was ready by 8 am. For them it was not yet time to get the potjie started, instead they started frying up fantastic bacon and egg butties……….just to make sure their team were well fed for the long day ahead. They had the rest of us quite jealous smelling that fantastic breakfast. However, it wasn’t long before the smell of fried onions and garlic filled the air as the potjie preparations began.
Saturday the 1st of August was a gorgeous winter’s day and there was a great turn out with 14 teams being entered into the potjie competition. There were various scoring categories including the Best Potjie, Best Team Spirit, and Overall Presentation. The teams had all gone to an amazing effort, as you can see from the photos, and the vibe and spirit were unbelievable. Potjies ranged from oxtail, to chicken, to beef, to seafood and each one was so different in taste and presentation. All day the teams engaged with each other and the judges, giving insight into the spirit we are so accustomed to seeing at all Cedar Lakes events.
In addition, we were joined by a duo of dancers who really showed their energy and passion and had a number of the kids up learning their moves. Judging started at 3 pm and the teams pulled out all the stops when presenting their masterpieces. The presentations as well as the side dishes were impressive. The scoring was extremely tough with each judge having their own thoughts and scores on the different flavors and recipes but finally the winners were decided and the prizegiving began.
The top three winners were the Minionaires (Overall winner), Pot o Lot (Best Potjie), and SIS Global & The Stags (Best Team Spirit).
A very big thank you to Gary Du Toit, Jeanette Budd and Sean Permuy for their excellent judging throughout the day. Thanks to Natalia and Dee of Pam Golding Properties for putting together fantastic prizes as well as for the donations of gazebos and umbrellas for use during the day which definitely came in handy.
Besides the entry fees, additional funds were raised through the sale of freshly made samoosas as well as the sale of raffle tickets. Huge thanks to Chili Tree Cresta for the donation of the samoosa’s, to Jeanette for so effectively getting people to part with their money for the raffle tickets & to the Minionaires and The Hawley’s for donating prizes for the raffles.
There was also an auction held to boost the amount raised. Auctioned was The Minionaires fantastic Minions Cake, a dinner to be hosted by the Clubhouse team, as well as an awesome Jagermeister towel. Thank you so much to everyone who both donated the auction items, as well as those who bought them. Your generosity is heartwarming.
Thanks also to Sean Permuy for assisting with the music on the day, as well as the required announcements, to Martie Nyman & Dylan Halsall for volunteering at the IMAGINE stand and to all those that participated and spectated on the day – THANK YOU!
The total raised from this event was over R28 000. Our biggest thank you goes out to the Cedar Lakes Lifestyle Committee who chose us to make a difference with IMAGINE and for all their hard work in making this event the success that it was.