Party Cakes
A Chronological order of GORC's Volunteer Appreciation Party cakes
Let's be honest, most people like cake. And even if you don't want or can't have cake you know that the icing tells a story. Happy birthday? Best wishes? Good luck, maybe? And that's where this story begins...
This page is dedicated to the club's cakes that have become a tradition at the annual Volunteer Appreciation Party that's been held every year since (???). If you have any cakes from 2007 or earlier please reach out at gorc-at-gorctrails.com
2006
This Appreciation party was held at the Dogwood shelter at Greensfelder.
Here's a shot of the group that attended the 2006 party. We can't determine if this was everyone or probably just those that stuck around to 'kill the keg' so to speak. We all look a lot younger 16 years ago.
2007
What a party that was to be... or not. We reserved the cabins at Klondike and had access to the main event center. But Mother Nature decided to unleash an ice storm that ensured a tricky stay. We didn't ride bikes that year and we also decided a December party date was just too risky. We would bump it up to an early November date here on out. That's not a rain sheen in the photo. The frosting was no good in 2007.
2008
We don't seem to have any other pics other than this one taken at the Muckerman shelter at Greensfelder. We hope S.A. doesn't mind and she has been with the club since nearly the beginning.
2009
Unknown. Was a party not had? We cannot remember... Maybe there *was* a party?
2010
As you will see with other cakes, there's a solid Halloween theme since our parties have occurred the weekend during or just after Halloween.
2011
This party was held at Creve Coeuer park. Many laps were burned and by the time some of us got back the cake had been chomped hard. We'll let your imagination piece together the slices.
2012
The cake baton was passed onto our resident graphic designer. No two cakes could ever be the same and it's a tradition we try our best to keep going. What will the next year design look like? Come to the party and find out.
2013
This cake may have been from Federhofer's but We can't quite recall.
2014
Again, another possible Federhofer's cake. That south side bakery has some good, classic stuff!
2015
Just like the trails, good cake follows the natural contour. We are pretty sure Schnuck's in Eureka started being the cake HQ this year.
2016
This cake was a riff on our sweatshirts that featured the "tree of bikes" design.
2017
The pac-man style design captured party-goers attention and just like the video game, it was all gobbled till it was just a ghost of a cake.
2018
GORC turned 20 this year. That meant many of our founders were 20 years older than the year they formed a club that just wanted to have more places to ride bikes on better trails. Dang, some of us are getting... nevermind. We made anniversary socks but they might be stinky by now!
2019
GORC is of drinking age. Margarita Man was the design that year. Look at that sick 'stache. Trek was selling a ton of mid-fat Staches but that's a coincidence, right?
2020
COVID-19 ruined the party. The unfortunate illness may have broken our party streak but not our trailbuilding spirit. We built a lot of fantastic trail in 2020 -carefully- but we don't have any cake to prove it. And we pay our volunteers in cake, so for that, we are sorry!
2021
COVID-19 was/is still a thing. However, we had a great year building trail with the flow hub at Bluff View and at the other local parks. We just had to have an Appreciation Party... And back at Greensfelder. Schnucks in Eureka did a great job on our Halloween Day of the Dead skull homage and we socially distanced while we devoured cake.
2022
And still Covid-19 goes on but our lives continue as well. GORC had another great Volunteer Appreciation Party at the Glassberg shelter in Greensfelder park, despite the gale-force winds. Schnucks continues the tradition of bringing the cake design to life. Hardly any was left this year but a few folks did have cake for breakfast on Sunday. If there's one party goal in 2023 it will be to eat entire full sheet cake. They all weigh at least 8 pounds. Seriously!
