Power to the Peeps; S-R's first Peeps as Art contest reveals a few

It was the little yellow chicks that started it all, but today they are called Peeps even when they are eggs or bunnies. You know the ones, those brightly colored little critters made out of marshmallow? In the little yellow boxes? You can get them for Halloween as well, but then they are shaped like ghosts and pumpkins.

If you have no idea what we're talking about then you're apparently not alone.

And that is just one of the many interesting Peep facts we discovered when we decided to launch The Spokesman-Review's first Peeps as Art Contest a couple of weeks ago.

The assignment was pretty simple: use Peeps not as a snack but as raw material from which to create art. You could make something entirely out of Peeps, or have your Peeps stage a favorite movie scene or perhaps reenact a famous historical event - pretty much anything goes in a Peeps as Art contest.

We left it open on purpose - and then the questions started to roll in:

"What are Peeps?" Told you, some people didn't know.

"Does the entire creation have to be all edible?" Well, no, but Peeps should be a substantial part of your creation.

"Do we have to use Easter Peeps now that it's almost Easter?" No, any Peep goes.

"Are there any restrictions on the size of the submission?" No, not as long as you can safely transport it to our office so we can take a picture of it.

By deadline last Friday, we had 32 entries including photos of a handful of people dressed up as Peeps, a Peep swimming in a cup of coffee and a picture of a very big dog guarding two very small Peeps. We also had the Last Supper as performed by Peeps and a pretty accurate depiction of a Gonzaga basketball game. And, of course, a Peep show.

And then we had an entry from Erica Roscoe and Johnny Quinn. There was just something hauntingly brilliant about the tableau the two pod-mates from the Internet costumer service and sales department at Spokane Hardware had created. Our judges found this particular creation absolutely impossible to resist.

"As soon as we had the idea, we both said 'That's it!'" says Erica Roscoe, 23, of Spokane. "Let's have them eat the bunny. And that's when we thought of 'Gulliver's Travels.'" Roscoe works with Johnny Quinn, 22.

"We went shopping together, we did the whole thing together," explains Quinn, who lives in Coeur d'Alene. "We work together and we're friends, and I knew that she's crazy about Peeps so it was a given that we'd enter."

Quinn once gave Roscoe a Peeps maker.

"Yes, that's right, I got it from a Web site," he says. "At lunch time we made Peeps together in the kitchen at work."

It was a co-worker who showed Roscoe the announcement of the contest.

Roscoe freely admits she's obsessed with Peeps.

"I just love them. All of them. Any holiday comes around and my mom sends me a care package with Peeps in it," she says.

Her favorite? "The yellow ones, the chicks."

After they had formulated the idea of the captured bunny and sketched out a few things, Quinn explains that their biggest challenge was making the bite marks in the chocolate bunny.

"We were so afraid it was going to crack," he says. "Erica came up with the idea of using a nail to poke through the chocolate instead of cutting it."

The result is pretty amazing and very detailed. Two Peeps are standing on top of each other to better reach the top of the bunny. One Peep is making a break for it with the bunny's eye and two other Peeps are sharing big pieces of chocolate. Um, bunny. Big pieces of bunny.

"I guess, maybe it's so fascinating because Peeps are supposed to be fluffy and cute and here they are being sort of angry," says Roscoe. "One thing is for sure: We didn't at all think we were going to win."

The two already have plans for entering next year's contest.

"I don't want to give it away, but the entry is going to be huge," says Quinn, laughing. "We already have dozens of design ideas."

As for this year's bunny, would they like him back?

"Nope," Quinn and Roscoe say in unison, "you can eat him!"

Second place goes to Gay Waldman for a Lilac Queen Peeps Float. Though this creation includes only a few Peeps, our judges found it both beautiful and intriguing, as well as full of little details.Third place goes to Ben and Alex Shawn, 11 and 10 years old, for their rendition of Marge Simpson's head made entirely out of Peeps. The two explained that they wanted to do Homer but they didn't have any white Peeps. They did, however, have pink, yellow and blue Peeps to match Marge's unique coloring so that's what they went for.

SIDEBAR: PEEPS ON THE WEB We found dozens of Web sites dedicated to Peeps, their travels and general behavior and habits. Here are two you may want to check out: www.marshmallowpeeps.com is the official Web site for the company that makes Peeps, Just Born, based in Bethlehem, Pa. This is the site you want your kids to go to. It features Peep history, a factory tour, a fan club and Peepsville - a small town where Peeps run the show. www.keypad.org/bunnies/ features BST - Bunny Survival Tests - which explore how marshmallow bunnies hold up to slow application of heat or exposure to hot tubs or microwave ovens. Interesting stuff, a lot like high school chemistry gone awry - just funnier.

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