By Dave Dakota

Darlene McGregor is a female stripper whose pride and job is her little dog Oreo. She has been looking for a place to show case her best friend for years and has after talking to her exotic dancer friends has decided to showcase Oreo and other strippers dogs in an up and coming dog show that is about to take Champaign by storm. I talked to Darlene about this new dog show
DD: What made you want to do a dog show?
DM: I have the best dog in the world! He is a badass! I always bring him everywhere I go. People just love him, so I decided to show him off in a real platform where the whole city of Champaign can see him. A lot of the other girls that I work with and some of the Male Strippers and Exotic Dancers who word for MaleStrippers.com in Champaign also are bringing their dogs. The entertainers here in Champaign have a great little community! My friends have the cutest dogs. We were going to make it a small event but the whole city stepped it up! Now we have a ton of local businesses involved and over 50 dogs! This is going to be so much fun. It is a great local event for all of Champaign to enjoy. Also the exotic dancer industry is able to give back to the city! I love Champaign, and I want to be here the rest of my life. It is so much fun to be a part of this community!
DD: Is this going to be an annual event?
DM: It is looking that way! We already have sponsors that committed to two and three year deals! We are really excited. Of course the future of this event hinges on the success of our first event. I never want to look too far ahead, but I can see this thing getting bigger and bigger.
DD: You seem to be on the right track! Is your dog Oreo headlining the event?
DM: Hahahaha! You know it! He will be the featured dog! HE and I wouldn’t have it any other way. He is the inspiration for this event so we want to make sure that he gets the prime position on the show! Oreo and I are very excited. We hope to see everyone there!

By Dave Dakota

Sandy Hortich, a baker from Indianapolis, has turned her Bachelorette Party cakes into a national phenomenon. Sandy makes life like miniature replicas of the Brides and at the Bachelorette Party, the girls get to eat the bride. I talked to Sandy about her unique business.
DD: I must say that your work is pretty impressive. How do you turn cake into a life like replica of these brides?
SH: I can’t give away all of my secrets, but we definitely offer a one of a kind service. And this isn’t a graphic on your cake. This is a personalized sculpture cake. We are the first of our kind, and business has been booming.
DD: Why only Bachelorette Parties? I assume that this could also be big for Birthday Parties and pretty much any other event involving a cake.
SH: Funny you say that because next week we are expanding the business to everything and anything. The reason that we started with Bachelorette Parties was because it was a niche market that I knew we could be successful with. But obviously people started wanting us to make cakes for all types of different parties, so I finally gave in. It’s good to have a niche market, but it is better to take over the world.
DD: Let’s stick to the Bachelorette Party stuff. Tell me about the greatest cake you ever made!
SH: I made a life sized cake for a multi-millionaire woman in Las Vegas. She was 5 foot 3 and we made it her exact size. And on top of that, we made it a standing cake. It was truly a work of art. I swear people were taking pictures with the cake, and it looked like it was actually her. I actually won 3 awards for that cake. It took me 20 hours to make, and it fell apart 24 hours before the party, so I had to spend another 20 hours and remake it. It was 40 hours of work, but it was worth it.

DD: That is amazing! How do you transport something like that?

SH: That was a whole other ordeal! We had to make it on wheels. We had to have 4 huge guys transport it. It was such a production. I was a nervous wreck the whole time. It was such a relief when we finally delivered it.

DD: Do you have any specialties for the Bachelorette parties?

SH: We actually do cake replicas of the bride or the groom. Also we can do specialty cakes, or whatever the ladies want.

DD: Tell me about these bachelorette mini cakes that you are selling all around the country

SH: These have become our specialty. We can customize them however the girls want. We can do a full set of the groomsmen and bridesmaids. It is a lot of fun, and completely original.

DD: You truly have turned a niche business into something amazing. Congrats on the success and nothing but the best in the future.