Sole purpose of Chilliwack Cupcake Festival to spread joy throughout community

Who doesn’t love cupcakes?

It was with that in mind and her love of sharing sweet treats with friends that Nancy Guitar decided to start the Chilliwack Cupcake Festival.

On Dec. 2, people will be coming together all over Chilliwack with cupcakes in hand.

Guitar was with a friend one day when the idea came to her.

“We were having a cupcake and I said ‘It would be so much fun if I could make a cupcake for everybody in Chilliwack,’” she recalled.

She admits it was a “silly” comment, but then she started thinking about how sweet it would be to have a cupcake day in Chilliwack.

Guitar mentioned it on social media and immediately her friend Teri Westerby was game.

“Nancy Guitar conceived our city’s first cupcake festival with the sole purpose of spreading joy throughout the community,” Westerby stated in a press release.

So how does it work?

On Friday, Dec. 2, the community is encouraged to bake and share cupcakes with others.

“My vision is to see little pockets of people, right across Chilliwack, getting together with their family and friends, making cupcakes and sharing them with their neighbours,” Guitar said.

Folks can also help out by donating money or volunteering to bake cupcakes which will be delivered to non-profit organizations and brought to local businesses, and other places like city hall, where they will be handed out to people.

Guitar and Westerby were approved for a $1,000 grant from United Way and they’ll be using that money to buy ingredients to make cupcakes. Natasha’s Pies is letting them use their commercial kitchen for free to bake the sweets.

Bakers in the community and other volunteers have already stepped up to help with making and delivering cupcakes.

“It’s just so wonderful,” Guitar said.

Those interested in volunteering, participating, taking part as a sponsor or pick-up location, or wanting to find out more can fill out this form: https://forms.gle/x4ti4WLgXcZSENfF8.

For more information, email Teri Westerby at TeriW@UWBC.ca.

People are asked to take photos and videos and use the hashtag #ChilliwackCupcakeFestival when sharing them on social media.

The Chilliwack Cupcake Festival is developed by volunteers in collaboration with the United Way’s Hi Neighbour Program whose mission is to create, share and work together, strengthening the fabric of a community and becoming more vibrant and inclusive.

Looking for more events taking place in and around Chilliwack? Check out What’s happening Chilliwack in our community section.