Artists show off their creative juices by designing art with Shriver’s taffy
By ELIZABETH LITTLE/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY — Summer is now in full swing, which means that every week at the Ocean City Music Pier, people of all ages gather to compete in Wacky Wednesday events. This week, competitors tried their best to get out of a sticky situation with a coveted blue ribbon during the saltwater taffy sculpting competition, courtesy of Shriver’s on the boardwalk.
The competitors were divided by age and the competition was judged by Miss Ocean City Mary Grace Jamison and Junior Miss Ocean City Natalie Argento.
Faith Vilbas of Perkasie, Pa., was so excited to make a taffy sculpture that she and her “babcia” (grandmother in Polish) showed up to the event an hour early. Vilbas said she was planning to create a bowl of fruit.
Sydney Miller created a turtle out of lemon taffy, but the 3-year-old was not too keen on it being all over her hands. “Sticky!” Sydney said, tossing her hands up to her mother, hoping that if she did so they would magically be cleaned.
“I’m making a firetruck!” Sydney’s brother chimed in.
Edie Tennenbaum of Bellevue, Wash., took inspiration from challah bread to sculpt her taffy braid. Her family explained that Tennenbaum attends a Jewish school back home, where the students learn how to braid challah bread. The 5-year-old said her favorite taffy flavor is lemon, but a close second is blue raspberry. Tennenbaum employed both of her favorite flavors while making her taffy braid. She even snacked while creating her sculpture.
Another person who traveled far for the taffy sculpting competition was Ben Berkowitz of Phoenix, Ariz., who said it was his first time in Ocean City.
“I just love to have taffy, so I decided it would be cool to create something,” the 9-year-old said. “I’ve been to a lot of new food places that were all really good. I’ve been to a couple of arcades. I went to the beach.”
Kathy Solomon, Ben’s grandmother, said she grew up in Philadelphia and used to visit the shore for vacations.
“I wanted them to experience my childhood,” she said.
Some young artists — such as Nicky Buonocore of Springfield, Pa. — created a story to go along with their sculptures.
“I made a boat with a steering wheel, and someone’s riding it and they fell off into the water and the snake went through the boat,” Nicky said.
Olivia Incantalupo of Maple Glen, Pa., took inspiration from her favorite snack — pretzels — to create colorful sculptures out of taffy. She was channeling her mermaid self by wearing a Princess Ariel dress down to the shore. She said her favorite activity at the beach is hopping the waves with her father. The 4-year-old was also excited that the real life “princesses” (Jamison and Argento) were at the Wacky Wednesday event. Little Miss Ocean City Antonella DiAntonio must have had duties elsewhere.
“Hi Princess! Did you make pretzels?” Jamison asked as she approached the table to judge the sculpture. Olivia was ecstatic to be face to face with a princess.
Sometimes, the best artistic inspiration is from real life. Audra Moier, who entered the adult category, created a stick figure throwing away his mask, complete with the caption “Yeah!”
“He’s throwing away his mask. We’re celebrating that it’s no masks,” Moyer said.
She brought the whole family out for Wacky Wednesday, and said that coming to the shore from all around America has been a family tradition for 30 years. Moyer said the family even came last year during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to enjoy some time together.
“We were even here last year, with the masks. Ocean City is a second home for all of us. My first grandchild is now 30 and we started gathering here 30 years ago,” Moyer said.
The winners of the competition received ribbons and had a photo opportunity with the city’s misses.
Wacky Wednesday with its silly family events is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. every Wednesday at the Ocean City Music Pier at Moorlyn Terrace and the boardwalk.
