Entertaining Class Features Professional Talent
By Leslie Rott

Micque Brickson, who came all the way from Minnesota to enjoy some of this year’s Lilac Festival events, prepares to decorate her torte with lilac designs.

This year’s Lilac Festival offered something for everyone, even for those who dream of becoming domestic divas. An “Art of Entertaining” class, held at Mackinac Island Community Hall Wednesday, June 15, at 7:30 p.m., featured the pastry talents of Kim Sperl from Bella e Dolce in Cheboygan and the floral talents of Jay Porcaro, owner of Weber’s Floral and Gift.

Participants, who paid $45 for the class, were given the opportunity to make a flower arrangement and decorate a six- inch torte, both of which they were able to take home with them after the class.

“It’s not just about how it tastes, it is about how it looks, too,” Mrs. Sperl told participants as they eagerly watched her smooth frosting onto a cake. Mrs. Sperl has been making and decorating cakes for seven years and she attended Le Cordon Bleu, a famous culinary school in Paris.

Her butter cream frosting was a hit with participants, and left many wondering if more frosting got eaten than made it onto cakes. Mrs. Sperl showed participants how to frost a cake perfectly and then demonstrated how to create frosting lilacs.

“I thought it would be really fun to be a part of the Lilac Festival,” Mrs. Sperl said of her participation.

Mr. Porcaro showed participants the proper way to arrange flowers so that they could create their own professional-looking floral arrangement.

“We like people to be able to enjoy flowers,” he said.

Space was limited to 25 participants and 13 people attended the class. Tourism Bureau Director Mary Slevin said that although there is always room for more people at any event, she and others enjoyed the intimacy and personal attention that the small class offered.

Barbara Arnold, from Ohio, came with her daughter, Micque Brickson, from Minnesota, for a vacation weekend. They looked through the Lilac Festival calendar and decided that the “Art of Entertaining” class would be a “fun mother-daughter thing to do.”

Mrs. Slevin said people have asked for a lifestyle event at the Lilac Festival and said she likes the idea because it provides a way to showcase local talent.