As you all are no doubt aware, there is nothing sweeter than the freedom we celebrate on the Fourth of July. But pie is a close second.
Which is why yesterday’s VillageFest celebration was especially sweet for shawneemissionpost.com’s very own Julia Westhoff, who had the honor of judging the inaugural Prairie Village Pie Baking Contest along with Le Fou Frog pastry chef Carter Holton. If you happened to see the 30-plus entries at the Harmon Park pavilion before they were sliced up, you know that there were some fine looking pies in the running.
Alas, only a handful could take home bragging rights. And they are:
Grand Prize: Joe Cristofani’s Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Fruit Category
1st Place: Sara Thompson*
2nd Place: Charlotte Rosen
3rd Place: Polly Bilski
Nut/Other Category
1st Place: Melissa Geffert
2nd Place: Carol Logan
3rd Place: Lisa Keeter
Youth Category (There were only three entries so they only awarded first place.)
1st Place: Julia Caldwell
*Okay…so, full disclosure: Sara is Jay’s aunt. Which of course brings up the question of whether there was any favoritism in the judging process. Rest assured there was not: Julia didn’t know Sara was entering a pie and all of the entries were identified by a number, not a name. But the results aren’t surprising. She bakes a really, really mean pie.