Noon-3 p.m. Saturday, Memorial Park, 502 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs; free, with suggested nonperishable food item donation; fruitcake toss@gmail.com or Manitou Springs Great Fruitcake Toss on Facebook

Fruitcakes the world over shed candied tears of joy this month when it was announced that The Great Fruitcake Toss would return to Manitou Springs after being canceled in 2014.

The Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce started hosting the event – which inspired National Fruitcake Toss Day (Jan. 3) – in 1995 as a creative community way to dispose of the cloyingly sweet holiday loaves.

The lark grew into an annual festival and continued to grow in scale and concept, with competitors using powerful mechanical devices to hurl the cakes, a shift that led to the event’s relocation in 2010 from a downtown park to school grounds on a nearby hilltop.

“This will be the 20th year the fruitcakes have flown over Manitou and we’re going old school – back in Memorial Park, no mechanical devices, just carnival-style games, but with fruitcake,” said Annie Schmitt, one of a group of volunteers who mapped out a resurrection plan and rallied community support before approaching the chamber last year. “The fruitcake toss is something that Manitou Springs has that’s unique. I didn’t want to see it go away for the second year.”

Admission to the “citizen-sponsored” event is free, but donations are accepted and attendees are asked to bring a nonperishable food item for a local food bank, Schmitt said.

As they vie for a year of winner’s rights to the Fruitcake Throne, donated by Colorado Ski Chairs of Manitou, competitors can test their skills at a series of customized fruitcake challenges, including a speed pitch station.

“The company said, ‘We can’t really guarantee it’ll measure the speed of a fruitcake accurately,'” Schmitt said, laughing.

As for game “gear”, Schmitt and other volunteers baked more than 70 cakes that will be available for rent at the festival. She set out ahead of time to create quality cakes that wouldn’t deflate once in play.

“We wanted to figure out the best recipe for a sturdy fruitcake, and they’re about a pound apiece, give or take,” said Schmitt, who worked with In Joy Baking Co. of Manitou to produce five different versions the volunteers then put to field tests. “On Saturday morning, 10 of us were out in the park with the different cakes throwing them around to see which ones survived the best.”

Stephanie Earls, The Gazette, 636-0364, stephanie.earls@gazettedev.gazette.com