Eyes on the pies
Hundreds turn out for pie breakfast in Woodbury
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Linda Tucker, left, president of the library trustees, serves pies to a line of guests at the seventh annual Woodbury Pie Breakfast on Saturday. PHOTO BY JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR |
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By SARAH HINCKLEY Staff Writer - Published: March 22, 2009
WOODBURY – The tie-dye print on Mack Gardner-Morse's shirt vied for attention next to the blue-and-purple stained paper plate he clutched.
His gaze fixed on an assortment of slices and slivers before him, Gardner-Morse of Calais was searching for a lemon meringue pie and not having any luck. It was at least his second time through the two lines at the 7th Annual New England Pie Breakfast at Woodbury Elementary School, early Saturday morning.
Gardner-Morse already had sampled a variety of blueberry pies and complimented an asparagus-and-ham quiche eaten from a previous trip to the table.
"Get some protein. Get some veggies – I mean fruit," he said of the assortment that included custard, chocolate cream, apple, peach, meat and potato, salmon and five-cheese quiche, among the spectrum of slices.
By 9:20 a.m., nearly 250 people had paid $6 to attempt to taste as many of the 162 pies offered from 91 pie-makers in the small town. Proceeds from the pie breakfast benefit the Woodbury Community Library, and some had been waiting for it since the start of the year.
"This is my favorite morning of the year, it's better than Christmas," said Rebecca Agone who has lived in Woodbury just over four years and baked two pies for the breakfast.
"Everybody loves pie – and as much as you want for breakfast – it gets you set for the day," said Kate Camilletti who helped start the decadent occasion seven years ago. "This event just brings people out of the woodwork. They come from all over."
There were 88 pies the first year. This year, with nearly double that number to serve, the goods were spread out on two tables, on either side of the school's gymnasium, for the first time.
"Any kind of pie you can imagine is on that table – or two tables," said Heather Lanphear of Woodbury, noting the pie breakfast is the biggest fund raiser for the library. "If they are prettier, we sell them whole."
For John Dubois of Calais the breakfast, whose birthday is coming up, is his celebratory meal.
"I can't choose a favorite, I had a lot of blueberry and quiches," he said, with an empty plate in front of him. "Everything was equally delicious."
Pam Kinniburgh and Sandy Reeks of Woodbury have made the event an annual rite to spring.
"We come every year," said Reeks. "There are more people every year, it's amazing … Usually we go through two times, this year we're being good."
Not Peter Harvey of Calais, who was sitting with friends and commenting on each bite.
"He's the one who suggested they make smaller pieces so you can try more pies," said Cindy Gardner-Morse sitting across from Harvey.
"Don't advertise this, it's crowded enough as it is," he said putting a new forkful to his lips. "There was a nice maple pie … pie crusts are really interesting. That's the hardest part to make."
Gardner-Morse commented when there were fewer than 30 minutes left until the breakfast was over. Harvey took another bite of filling, leaving the crust before standing up, plate in hand.
"Great custard, not great crust," said Harvey heading for one more round of flavors from the table.
When the Damn Yankee String Band took a break from playing, guitar player George Ray stepped up to a table strewn with half pies and assorted filling. After placing a slice of custard on his plate, Ray dipped into a banana cheese pie, sliding a sliver next to the first.
Banana cheese pie?
"Oh, yeah," said Ray after taking an initial taste. "It's not too sweet. It's got a little cheese tang to it."
As fast as the crowd was snarfing down the sweet and savory circles, Mykala Wiswell, 15, was washing the empty plates in the kitchen. She had volunteered to clean the plates to earn credit for community service through her school. Wiswell wasn't sure how many she had washed by 10 a.m.
"I think I lost count," she said, showing how most of the plates were labeled with stickers or a mark of their maker.
Aluminum plates, headed for a recycling bin, were stacked nearly as high off the counter as the top of Wiswell's head.
"It's nonstop dishes," said Denise King of Woodbury, standing over the stove, slicing pies as they came out of the oven or into the kitchen. "I'm just getting as many decent-size slices out of them as we can … So many different varieties of quiche ... there's some really beautiful pies. People are really talented. They're all donated by local people."
Julia Faryniarz, 8, and Elahna Faryniarz, 5, shuffled through the line with their dad Tim. It was their second trip through and sweet pies were the focus. Tim Faryniarz already had enjoyed a five-cheese quiche with either salmon or bacon, he couldn't recall.
"One of those heart attack ones," he said, looking over the girls' choices. "They like all the chocolate, lemon – the dessert pies."
Erik Mueller-Harder waited next to the line for his wife and children to pack their plates with a second serving.
"This is wonderful, we come every year," he said about the trek from Cabot for the family. "This makes the calendar as soon as we hear about it."
So far, Clara Mueller-Harder, 8, had been most impressed with the apple pie she'd eaten. But a fresh slice of peach pie on her mother's plate was about to undergo the taste test.
"I might like this more than the apple," said Clara, pointing to the slice.
According to her mother's report later, the peach pie was more pleasing to her daughter.
"It's such a friendly crowd here – the atmosphere, I mean the food is great, but the atmosphere is really nice," said Cindy Gardner-Morse, commenting on how strangers compared flavors and favorites with one another at the tables.
She and her husband have attended almost every year.
"I think we missed one," she said of the annual event. "That was because we didn't know about it."
For those who missed Woodbury's New England Pie Breakfast, a third annual pie breakfast is taking place on May 2 for the Orchard Valley Waldorf School at the Christ Church. To find out more about that event, call Kate Camilletti at 456-8757.
Contact Sarah Hinckley at sarah.hinckley@timesargus.com.
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