{"id":162251,"date":"2026-02-20T06:14:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T06:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/162251\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T06:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T06:14:07","slug":"sweet-success-at-fuzzy-pineapples-dessert-festival-the-famuan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/162251\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweet\u00a0success at Fuzzy Pineapple\u2019s Dessert Festival\u00a0 \u2013 The FAMUAN"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheSignage for The Fuzzy Pineapple\u2019s Dessert Festival in Tallahasse, Florida. (Lariel Green\/FAMUAN)<\/p>\n

For anyone with a sweet tooth, Tallahassee had plenty to celebrate Saturday, Feb. 7, as The Fuzzy Pineapple\u2019s Dessert Festival returned for its fifth year, filling Adams Street with pastries, cookies and locally made treats.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Fuzzy Pineapple\u00a0owner\u00a0Nefetari\u00a0Dennard, a Florida A&M University\u00a0alumna, said the Dessert Festival grew out of earlier art and food events she hosted. With her sister working as a pastry chef, the idea for a dessert festival came after seeing how strongly\u00a0food-based\u00a0events brought people together and supported local vendors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople show up for food,\u201d\u00a0Dennard\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inclusion is central to the festival\u2019s mission. Dennard encouraged vendors to offer vegan and gluten free options, noting that these choices are limited in Tallahassee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Vendors pose at the dessert festival. (Lariel Green\/FAMUAN)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a huge vegan community here, and they\u2019re underserved,\u201d she said. \u201cI was looking for gluten-free and vegan\u00a0options;\u00a0Whole Foods is all you have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shan Scott, owner of Craves Squared, a Tallahassee home\u00a0bakery,\u00a0said\u00a0the Dessert Festival is important to the growth of her business. Even when people do not\u00a0purchase\u00a0right away,\u00a0the exposure\u00a0helps build long term support through word of mouth and social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a small business starting out, it\u2019s kind of hard to get your name out,\u201d\u00a0Scott\u00a0said. \u201cWhen you go to different markets, it shows your face to the people and gets your name out there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scott\u00a0continues to return to events hosted by Dennard because of the environment and support.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was my first market,\u201d Scott said. \u201cThis is actually one of the best ones we\u2019ve had by far\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Vendors and attendees gather on Adams Street for the dessert festival. (Lariel Green\/FAMUAN)<\/p>\n

Dennard\u00a0was encouraged by the turnout and engagement throughout the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was afraid it was going to be cold and rainy, but it ended up being a beautiful day,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople actually have been engaging.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Attendees also emphasized the sense of community. Florida State University student Mia Embree attended the festival as part of a sorority sisterhood activity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to support small businesses and do something fun together,\u201d\u00a0Embree\u00a0said. \u201cIt\u2019s good that people are able to include dietary restrictions\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beyond food, Dennard said the festival focuses on supporting local vendors and keeping community support at the center of the event year after year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope they find small local vendors to shop,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope we recycle our money within our community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Signage for The Fuzzy Pineapple\u2019s Dessert Festival in Tallahasse, Florida. (Lariel Green\/FAMUAN) For anyone with a sweet tooth,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":{"0":"post-162251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tallahassee","8":"tag-tallahassee","9":"tag-tallahassee-headlines","10":"tag-tallahassee-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}