Mayfield Chamber Pizza Bake-Off Raises $1,300 for Scholarship Fund

Mayfield Area Chamber of Commerce's first Pizza Bake-Off will not be the last.

Donna Leseman, chamber vice president, was in charge of the event and had hoped Wednesday's it would become an annual tradition. After raising for than $1,300 for the Mayfield High School Class of 2012 Senior Scholarship Fund, organizers were already thinking about next year.

"It seemed like something we could accomplish," said Leseman, who read about similar competitions hosted by chambers of commerce in Sandusky and Port Clinton. "Our main goal is to fund scholarships and I wanted to make sure that we never run out of money at some point."

Scholarships of $1,000 each will be given to five graduates this year. Guests at the Pizza Bake-Off not only got to contribute to that cause, they sampled pepperoni and specialty pizzas from six local restaurants - , Tomaydo Tomahhdo and Teresa's Pizza of Mayfield Heights, of Mayfield Village and and of Highland Heights.

Cheryl Anselmo wasn't sure which would get her vote in the People's Choice competition.

"We're torn between Romeo's and Zeppe's pizza with the roasted red peppers," she said. Romeo's had its Great Ranch & Potato, while Zeppe's had its Southwestern, which also has chicken and a white sauce.

No matter what, her group was going with specialty pizzas. "Pepperoni is boring," Dominic Anselmo said.

Pizzazz Pizza owner Mark Gaspar said he was impressed with the quality of the competition. "Everyone's specialty pizza here has been very good," he said.

Pizzazz brought its Sicilian Garden with white sauce, artichokes and red peppers.

Judging the specialty pizzas were Dr. Phillip Price, superintendent of the , Mike Wagner, chairman of the chamber scholarship fund, and Mayfield High student Dean Elliott. Fellow students Alison Kavo and Kelsey Csumitta decided the best pepperoni pizza along with Judy Delfs, the district's Citizen of the Year.

Winners of the competition were:

• People's Choice – Master Pizza
• Specialty – Tomaydo Tomahhdo 4 cheese chicken pesto
• Pepperoni – Teresa's Pizza