Baked Goods

Joseph Frank Hlavac, who worked for more than 40 years as a city records clerk, died of a heart attack Saturday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Overlea resident was 87. "He got the nickname of `T.J.' or `Tunnel Joe' because his office was off the tunnel that connected City Hall and the Municipal Building," said his daughter, Sister Regina Hlavac, a nun with the order of Daughters of Charity in Martinsburg, W.Va. Mr. Hlavac was born in Baltimore and raised on Durham Street, and graduated from St. Wenceslaus Parochial School.

The bidding starts at $1,000. Hands fly into the air and the crowd grows louder, urged on by a group of kids clapping and hollering from the side of the pavilion. The stakes are raised: $1,100, $1,200, $1,300, and it isn't long before the auctioneer is calling for a figure approaching $3,000. "Don't be afraid to get right in there," auctioneer Nevin Tasto shouts. "It's for a real good cause." He's talking about the Carroll County 4-H and Future Farmers of America Fair. But the money isn't being thrown down for champion steers or blue-ribbon hogs.

The bidding starts at $1,000. Hands fly into the air and the crowd grows louder, urged on by a group of kids clapping and hollering from the side of the pavilion. The stakes are raised: $1,100, $1,200, $1,300, and it isn't long before the auctioneer is calling for a figure approaching $3,000. "Don't be afraid to get right in there," auctioneer Nevin Tasto shouts. "It's for a real good cause." He's talking about the Carroll County 4-H and Future Farmers of America Fair. But the money isn't being thrown down for champion steers or blue-ribbon hogs.

FOUR CHURCHES got together Saturday for an ecumenical bazaar at the Lisbon Fire Hall. Lisbon United Methodist Church organized the event, and Calvary Lutheran, Shepherd of the Glen Lutheran and St. Paul's Episcopal churches joined in. For 18 years, Lisbon United Methodist held its holiday bazaar in the day care center at the church. But that involved closing the center Friday and loading the children's equipment into two rental trucks. Last year, the volunteers decided that was too much work, so they reserved the Lisbon Fire Hall for the only Saturday it was available.

There can be only one champion in the junior division of the baked goods category at the Talbot County Fair, and it comes down to this: an 8-year-old boy vs. a 10-year-old girl. His yellow butter cake vs. her white cake. The decision is in the judges' hands (pinched off in bite-sized morsels because the 4-H volunteers couldn't find any forks). Holding one piece is Glenn Burgess, a 64-year-old retired carpenter whose culinary credentials include marrying a cook, fathering two chefs and developing a potbelly.

The sweet scent of strawberries, blueberries and blackberries freshly plucked from leafy bushes reminds Jane Sussman of her business. A 46-year resident of Westminster, Sussman spends three days each week sifting flour and adding pectin to canisters of fruit, preparing to sell her homemade cakes, pies and jams at the Carroll County Farmers' Market. She's been at it nearly as long as the market has been around. This summer marks the Westminster market's 30th anniversary, and neither it nor Sussman appears to be going anywhere.

CHICAGO - Consumer products giant Unilever announced plans yesterday to spin off the baked goods unit of newly acquired Bestfoods, and Sara Lee Corp. immediately surfaced on analysts' lists of potential acquirers. The announcement comes amid a flurry of takeovers and sales in the food industry as companies try to sharpen their focus and grow to thrive and control costs. Earlier this month, Unilever completed its takeover of Bestfoods. with brands such as Hellmann's mayonnaise and Skippy peanut butter.

Yes, life is sweet in Division I, Baked Products and Candy, at the Maryland State Fair. But, as it happens, there are also a few walnut shells in the brownies. Such puns and plays on words come naturally when one sees the world from Donald and Shirley Snyder's side of the table in the 4-H/FFA Homes Arts Building on the state fairgrounds. He has been the Division I superintendent for four years, and she has been his assistant for four years. They appear to be devoted to one another, and to 4-H, which they credit with helping them turn out three poised, confident daughters.

For 36 years, John and Dotty Metzler were mostly content with selling seeds and plants for gardens throughout Howard County at their nursery on Owen Brown Road. But as yellow forsythia buds blossomed this season, so did a plan to reinvent the garden center. Over the next three years, Metzler's will begin to sell produce as well as deli foods and baked goods. "It just goes hand in hand," Dotty Metzler said. "People like to browse, so they could come any time and not feel like they have to rush home.

Giant Food Inc., the Baltimore-area's largest grocery chain and one of the few chains still manufacturing its own baked goods, will close its 51-year-old Silver Spring bakery in May. Many of the bakery's 320 workers, including bakers, sanitation workers, drivers, engineers and officers, will be offered new jobs or severance packages, the company said yesterday. H&S Bakery Inc., of Baltimore, the nation's largest independently owned bakery, will start producing about 80 percent of the baked goods sold in Giant bakeries, primarily breads, rolls muffins and bagels.