Morning clouds and showers may have made organizers nervous, but at noon Sunday when the gates opened for the 15th annual Mango Melee, the sun started shining and the sky stayed clear all afternoon.
Mango Melee drew some 4,000 people to the St. George Village Botanical Garden for an afternoon of everything mango – from cooking contests to displays of the many varieties, to juice tasting to the mango-eating competition.
In the latter category, two-time champion Olubayo Kaza had this advice for anyone who wants to try to down eight mangoes in about seven minutes – one handed.
"Eat fast," he said. Kaza won the contest in 2009, missed last year’s festival but was back Sunday to defend his title. At his side was Akio Rawlins, no slouch himself when it comes to powering down the fruit, and the two staged a spirited contest. They left the other four competitors in the dust – or the juice, if you prefer – as they tore through their fruit.
Kaza had a slim lead as he started his eighth mango, but Rawlins was right behind and closing fast when the 2009 champ dropped his final pit and raised his hand as the winner.
Kaza won $100 for his effort.
His fiancee, Sarah Jean Blackburn, beamed with pride as he mopped juice off his face.
"He loves to eat," she said.
Pretty much everyone else on the garden grounds did as well. While the "Mango Dis, Mango Dat" cooking competition didn’t draw the usual number of competitors, it did draw a long line of people eager to taste the contestants’ creations.
Marilyn Chakroff, the supervisor of the contest, said they had about 50 contestants, far fewer than last year. Particularly lacking were contestants in the professional category, where the only two entries were winners by default.
"But the people who did enter worked really hard and made some great stuff," she said.
Chakroff said several cooks she talked to cited the rising cost of the ingredients in a struggling economy as a reason for not entering this year.
The winners were:
Professional
Sweets – Sue Lakos, Mango Crunch
Stuff – Ralston and Eunice Ambrose, Mango Chicken Fiesta
Amateur
Sips – 1) Martha Jean-Pierre, Martha’s Specialty; 2) Zandra Petersen, Mango Liqueur.
Salsa – 1) Don Bailey, Tarragon Mango Dip; 2) Patasha Tracey, Spicy Mango Salsa.
Sweets – Sharon Grimes, Mangoes on Snow; 2) Debi George, Mango Peach Crisp.
Stuff – Zandra Petersen, Mango Bread; 2) Zandra Petersen, Mango Butter.
The garden grounds were also filled with cooks and artisans selling their wares. A series of lectures on this year’s featured fruit, the pineapple, was offered in the Bodine Visitors Center.
And though occasional clouds threatened once or twice, when the DJ started up the Electric Slide – the traditional finale to Mango Melee – the sun burst through one last time and a growing group of dancers bobbed, swayed, spun and strutted through the dance number, signaling the close of another Mango Melee.
