By TRAVINA COLEMAN
The enticing smell of baking pastry, wafting from the Greenwood Elementary cafeteria in the late afternoon, is a sure sign the holidays are just around the corner.
This week, the Tahlequah High School and Middle School choirs kicked off their highly anticipated annual tea ring sale, and fans are already lining up to purchase the sweet concoctions.
More than 30 choir students gathered at Greenwood to begin twisting dough into cinnamon rolls, stringing them together in rings, and slathering them with icing, before topping them off with cherries and pecans.
Monday evening, choir members were bustling around the cafeteria, rolling dough, baking, icing, and wrapping the popular holiday pastries.
“The first two are in,” one student yelled, prompting a celebration in the kitchen as the pastries slid into the oven..
Pattie Clay, THS senior, is a member of select choir, Tiger Choir and Show Choir.
“I have been doing this for three years,” Clay said. “It’s a lot of fun. I mean, it’s messy, but fun.”
She and other select choir students cook up the tea rings to help fund trips to competition in Texas.
“The middle school students will go to Dallas,” said Margie Green, THS choir director. “The high school will compete in San Antonio.”
And Clay loved the last trip to the home of the Alamo.
“It was amazing,” she said. “I can’t wait to go again.”
Green said the fundraiser has been going on for more than 30 years.
“We have people anticipating the begin of tea ring sales,” she said. “It’s always a great success.”
She expected to make close to 300 tea rings before Monday’s session came to a close.
Holly Stocks, TMS choir director, said the group inherited the fundraiser from the former choir director, Marjorie Malone.
“The students are really getting down to business,” she said. “They have a good time, and they work hard.”
The students wore their hair pulled back or underneath a variety of hats. All were extra-careful with the cleanliness of their hands.
“I can’t come and get it,” said one student, with her palms in the air. “I just washed my hands.”
As 5 p.m. approached, a couple of early-bird customers came into to await the first tea rings of the season.
Shirley Catcher said she snares a few every year, planning to send them as gifts.
“It doesn’t matter how many I buy,” she said. “None of them ever make it past my kitchen.”
Bradley Price, sophomore at THS, has been in choir for three years. He enjoys helping with the fundraiser.
“It’s a good environment, and everyone helps each other,” he said.
He plans to buy one every week himself. “They are so good,” he said.
Sarah Schiefelbein, 13, is excited to be part of the fundraiser.
“I am excited because it’s my first year,” she said. “I think everyone should buy one; they make great gifts.”
She said spending the extra time working isn’t a big deal, either.
“I leave for volleyball when I get done here,” she said. “So it doesn’t matter.”
Colby Reed, 12, is happy to be a part of the group this year, too.
“It’s one of the things I have been looking forward to,” he said.
