At fair, pie bakers were sour over contest rules

Some bakers were dismayed when their pie entries to the Great American Pie Baking Contest were turned away at the Northwest Montana Fair last week. Their pies had untraditional pie crusts such as lattice weave or a leaf pattern.

The 12 pies were disqualified because the rules in the fairbook say that the pies must be a two-crust traditional pie, fair manager Mark Campbell said. This means that they must have an intact top crust with no holes other than to release steam.

This free contest was not part of the general pies competition. It was a special feature competition in its sixth year. The prizes were not just a ribbon and a couple dollars. All contestants received a Super 1 Foods shopping bag and hoped to win as much as $300 for first place, $200 for second place and $100 for third place. In the end, 16 pies went in front of the judges.

The crust confusion is in part due to a photo published Aug. 16 in the fair tab of the Hungry Horse News and Daily Inter Lake. Page 12 of the insert showed an image of a lattice crust pie along with a summary of the contest rules. The newspapers unintentionally used the clipart to illustrate the contest, Campbell said. In the future, they will coordinate with the paper to make sure the published rules are specific and concise, he said.

"If we are clear, then no interpretation is needed," he said.

Some of the rejected contestants told contest superintendent Marilyn Cobb that they had successfully entered similar pies in previous years, but received point deductions, Campbell said.

Each department has a superintendent who facilitates the competitions. Fair management looks to experts in each field because there are so many areas of competition.

The home culinary department had a new superintendent this year. Cobb came to the fair intending to have a good time with her community while helping facilitate a fun competition, Campbell said. She followed the fair rules to the best of her knowledge.

"We thought this was clear and we will make it clear in the future," he said. "That is most important to us, it needs to be fun and enjoyable."