Mayor Stacy Goss won the award for most donuts eaten at the 2025 Salvation Army Donut Eating contest. This year’s competition was held on a Hutch Rec Third Thursday event on Thursday, May 15. CREDIT COURTESY OF HUTCHINSON SALVATION ARMY
By Emmie Amezola
The Hutchinson Salvation Army held its donut eating contest on Hutch Rec’s May Third Thursday event this year. This year’s contest set a record with 22 participants.
Major Paul James said hosting the contest on a Third Thursday was helpful. He said the contest attendance doubled compared to years past.
“I think we just had more of a natural crowd and so we definitely had more contestants,” James said. “Definitely had more friends and family that came.”
The purpose of the donut eating contest is to raise funds for the Salvation Army’s international work and to raise money for their regional kids camp in Kansas City.
“So we charge $10 per child to go to camp so this money helps cover the additional cost,” James said. “Obviously it cost a lot more than $10 for all the expenses for that.”
James said the money raised for international work was raised in honor of the work that the Salvation Army did in WWI. The Salvation Army currently resides in 134 countries.
“A bunch of ladies were sent to WWI to the front lines to bring comfort food and to bring comfort to the men who were fighting on the front lines,” James said. “So the supplies they had. They had lard, they had flour, they had sugar. They basically had what they could do to make donuts. They fried up donuts there on the front lines. Sometimes in the helmets of the military personnel there and gave donuts and coffee. And so in honor of that, half of our proceeds will go to our international work in other countries around the world.”
The total money raised from online donations and cash donations for the contest was $4,904.01.
The Raising the Most Dough award went to Darrell Adams from the Kiwanis of Downtown Hutchinson. The most donuts eaten award went to Mayor Stacy Goss.
The host of this year’s contest was Max Bringle of Eagle Media. Hutch Auto Body hosted the contest.
