Video The way the cookie crumbles: NLC students face off in Smile Cookie eating competition

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A cookie-eating contest at Northern Lights College (NLC) is the latest festivity in the 2025 Fort St. John Smile Cookie campaign. 

Tim Horton’s annual Smile Cookie campaign runs from April 28th to May 4th, with all the proceeds going towards local charities and nonprofit organizations like the Fort St. John Hospital Foundation.

More than 6,000 smile cookies were pre-ordered by residents in Fort St. John on the first day of the campaign, which aims to sell 11,316 cookies.

Students at NLC gathered on the front lawn of the Fort St. John campus on May 1st to eat cookies and show their support for the campaign. 

Ashley Harrison, NLC instructor in the health and sciences department, explained the eating contest as a “relay race.” 

“One person eats a cookie, the next person cannot go until that person is done, and then they will continue on, and then once all four people at the table are done, they have won,” said Harrison. 

Harrison was grateful to everyone in Fort St. John for participating and raising awareness of the campaign. 

“We’ve definitely appreciated all the support from the community, companies and NLC participating,” said Harrison. 

“Tim Hortons has been very busy, and we’re keeping them busy with all of the orders.”

Eight teams participated in the competition, with the Pie “R” Squared team winning in two minutes and nine seconds. 

After winning, team members Reid McNanon and Bryan Madely said they were surprised they had won, thinking they had eaten at a slow pace. 

“It seemed like we were going pretty slow… we thought we lost,” said McNanon.  

The pair said they still felt good about winning the competition and don’t like losing. 

The team barely beat the second-place team, the Cookie Conductors, who achieved a time of two minutes and 12 seconds. 

The competition’s organizer, Heidi Bolisay, expressed her joy over the turnout of people at the event. 

“I am so happy how everyone just came through here, everyone was cheering staff as well, international students and domestic students, so we’re very happy,” said Bolisay. 

She expects the Smile Cookie campaign to have a good, long-term impact on the Fort St John community. 

“I think we can bring [the campaign] forward in the coming years and it could be a long-running initiative,” said Bolisay.