During Homecoming week, the front of CHS was home to one of the stl250 cakes. The four foot, two-tier birthday cake featured cartoon characters like Scooby-doo, Snoopy, Tweety bird, Odie, and many more.

As many St. Louisians know, the cake is part of an incredible art exhibit called “Cakeway to the West.” Acorrding to the stl250.org website, the cakes are “one part scavenger hunt and one part history lesson – all adding up to a year’s worth of fun exploring St. Louis!”

The purpose of Cakeway to the West is to bring attention to places throughout the St. Louis area. The locations of the cake provides residents and visitors with an interactive way to tell the story of St. Louis’ past, present and future.

Activities Director James Gladstone was behind this confectionary visit. “It was just something I’ve seen around [St. Louis] and through social media,” he said. “I did my research and I contacted the people at the stl250 committee to get a traveling cake.”

There are two ”traveling cakes” that stay temporarily at a certain location determined by stl250 committee who decides whether the event “reflects consistency with stl250’s mission, vision and values.”

Our homecoming week was worth their values. The Clayton homecoming theme of celebrating all things St. Louis was enough to draw their attention.

“I submitted our event on their website three weeks prior to our homecoming week and they [responded] back,” Gladstone said.

With the cake in front of our school, it caught the eye of many students, parents, and staff members. However, by the end of the week, the cake had vanished from the main entrance.

“[The cake] was at the main entrance to start the week. I thought it was appropriate because quite a few parents drop off our students there,” Gladstone said. “At the end of the week, it was moved to the Greyhound entrance because that was going to be the entrance for homecoming.”

The cake was a genius addition to the elements for our homecoming parade.

“Not only did [the cake] spark attention within our high school, it also spark some attention outside our normal reach,” Gladstone said. Though the attention was brief, this giant inedible treat had brought our community a memorable experience.