More than 150 bakers from 27 states put their pie-making skills to the test for the 16th annual American Pie Council/Crisco National Pie Championships this past weekend at the Omni Orlando Resort at Championsgate. The three-day contest, which wrapped up on Sunday, had a record 907 pie entries across its four divisions—commercial, professional, amateur, and junior—compared to 861 last year, a rise organizers attribute to the fallen economy.
“I think that when the economy went crashing down, people were looking for something more affordable [to do], and more people have become more aware of what we are doing [in the pie industry],” said the council’s executive director, Linda Hoskins.
Due to the additional entries, the council had 200 judges–30 more than last year—rate the pies in categories such as apple, custard, and nut by the baker's division. Best of Show winners in the amateur and professional divisions each won $5,000, a new Sears Kenmore range, and a Crisco gift basket. The top winner in the Junior Chef division for bakers age 14 to 17 received a $2,000 college scholarship and gift basket from Crisco. The council also awarded first place ribbons to commercial division winners.
In conjunction with the competition, the council hosted the Great American Pie Festival at Lakeside Park in Celebration. More than 25,000 people stopped by the park on Saturday and Sunday to learn pie-making techniques, decorate pie tins, and take part in pie-eating contests.
The highlight of the festival was the Never-Ending Pie Buffet, which offered unlimited slices from the country’s largest commercial pie makers for a ticket price of $10 per adult and $5 for seniors and children. This year’s buffet featured a total of 70,000 slices, nearly 20,000 more than the 2009 festival.
More than 400 volunteers worked at the festival and championships.
