Bridgeport Parks & Recreation’s Fall/Winter Activity Guide is hot off the press featuring many popular annual activities, classes and hometown events – from Hay Bales & Tall Tales and Light Up Night to karate, ballroom dance and Fast Break Basketball league.

 

There is also something brand new.

 

“Building on the success we had with the children’s baking camp from this summer, Brenda Smith is teaching baking classes this fall and winter,” said Joe Shuttleworth, deputy parks and recreation director.

 

Although the summer baking camp was just for kids, upcoming classes – all to be held at Benedum Civic Center - will accommodate both children and adults.

 

The adult opportunities come first – with a Sept. 10 class on made-from-scratch yeast dough cinnamon rolls. Each class participant will go home from the three-hour class with a pan of sticky caramel cinnamon rolls.

 

On Oct. 15 and Nov. 12, Smith will provide instruction on how to make her award-winning homemade apple pie. Included will be her secret on making a perfect flaky pie dough and pretty pecan lattice top. Again, students will leave with their own apple pie creation.

 

Dec. 10 will feature the children’s class during which kids – ages 9 and up – will be baking gingerbread cookies. The hands-on class will include measuring, blending, rolling, cutting and baking.

 

The popularity of Smith’s summertime baking camp for kids got the ball rolling for the fall and winter classes.

 

“We filled our first summer baking class to capacity and had to start another class,” she said. “They were a really big hit so we decided to try to do something in the fall. And when some of the moms dropped off their kids, they told me I needed to do a class for adults – that they and their friends would love it.”

 

The adults’ September class will feature the same cinnamon rolls that the kids made this past summer.

 

“Then we decided to do the apple pie in October and November because the apples will be fresh and we can get West Virginia apples by then,” Smith said.

 

It was the Martinsburg Apple Harvest Festival where Smith won first-place for the apple pie that will be made during the classes. Having had a lifetime passion for baking, she said she’s happy to have the opportunity to pass the art – which is becoming a lost one – along.

 

“I started baking when I was really young. I was probably 10 or 12 years old when I was baking cookies by myself in my mom’s kitchen,” she said. “Since I loved to bake when I was that age, I just figured other kids would too.”

 

Having the summertime class under her belt, Smith said she learned that preparation is key.

 

“Preparation was a lifesaver,” she said. “We had everything prepped on each station for each child and that was their station to work. It helped everything to go smoothly.”

 

The Sept. 10 cinnamon roll class for adults will run 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and the cost is $25. The Oct. 15 and Nov. 12 adult class featuring homemade apple pie will run the same hours and the cost for those classes is $35.

 

The Dec. 10 children’s class on gingerbread men cookies will take place 10 a.m. to noon. Children ages 9 and up are invited to register for the cost of $25 each. Each baker will decorate and take home his or her own cookies.

 

To register for those and other classes featured in the new Activity Guide, stop at the Benedum Civic Center office or call 304-842-8240.

 

Some other classes offered include adult Ballroom Dancing with Artie and Eileen Frank (September), Stamp Camp with Kathy Hamrick (September, October and November) and children’s Karate with Kevin Drummond (September through December), Little Explorers’ hands-on science classes with Anita Jesmer (September through December.) The Activities Guide also provides information on upcoming Fast Break Basketball League, Youth Wrestling and Kids’ Tennis, among other activities.

 

The Fall/Winter Activity Guide also provides information on the Oct. 15 Hay Bales & Tall Tales, the Dec. 1 Light Up Night and Dec. 3 Christmas Parade and Jingle Bell Jog. Read and download a copy HERE or pick one up at the Benedum Civic Center. 

 

Editor's Note: Pictured from top are Brenda Smith's summer baking camp, Hay Bales & Tall Tales and Light Up Night.