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Tackling community issues. Celebrating local voices.
Lisa Downey’s face brightens when she discusses tigers, flowers, and vampires. But she’s not an artist or sculptor, a wildlife photographer, or a fantasy novelist. She’s a cake decorator.
For two decades Downey has been transforming sugar and butter into edible masterpieces at Market of Choice on 29th Avenue and Willamette Street in Eugene. This year, her artistic talents earned her recognition on a national stage when she was selected as one of four decorators out of 150 to compete in the cake decorating competition at the International Dairy Deli Bakery Association trade show in New Orleans, June 1-2. She walked away with the Fan Favorite award.
“It was more of a personal triumph,” she said. “I wanted it for myself and that was exciting. I’m not somebody who has ever thought of myself as being competitive at all, but this is something I have wanted to do for a while.”…