Expecting mothers treated to pies at Freedom Friday in Steubenville
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STEUBENVILLE -- Ten expecting mothers tasted and judged the best of seven entries for the third-annual Pregnant Pie Competition during the "Freedom Friday" festival.
Entries ranged in flavors from classic apple to peach and blackberry. People on Facebook, pregnant or not, could sign up to bake a pie for the competition.
However, only currently expecting mothers could sign up to be judges. The nonprofit hosting the event, the Harmonium Project, said on its Facebook event post, "Studies show that pregnant women are the most accurate judge of the best pies."
Chrissy Casazza, originally from Maryland but living in Steubenville, entered for the competition a peach pie based on a recipe from the website Sally's Baking Addiction. Casazza said she was not confident she would win, but she hoped the competition would give her some pie-baking practice.
"I like to bake," Casazza said. "I'm better at cookies than pies, but I really want to get better at pies. I feel like this is a good opportunity to get some feedback."
The crowd itself was pregnant with excitement as the pies and their judges began to arrive at the display table.
Mary Scott, an onlooker, said, "I wish I was pregnant so I could eat those pies."
Two of the judges were Emma Wright, 23 weeks pregnant, and Grace Spieldenner, also 23 weeks pregnant.
Wright said she was most excited for the peach and blackberry pie. She was encouraged through text by six different people to join as a judge.
"It has its ups and its downs," said Wright about being pregnant for the first time. Though it is worthwhile, Wright said, she has had to struggle with sickness during her first trimester as well as a kidney stone.
Spieldenner said she loves "a good peach pie." She said of being pregnant also for the first time, "I've never simultaneously been so excited and so sick at the same time. ... I feel horrible -- this is great."
Jill Kaufman, another judge, said she had been meaning to come to a First Friday festival for a while, so when she learned about the pie competition, she knew it was time to finally come.
"My husband is allergic to nuts, so this is my one chance to have (pecan pie)," Kaufman said.
Holly Coakley, 21 weeks pregnant, said she appreciates a good pie crust the most.
"I like a crust that is flaky and really buttery but has flavor," Coakley said. "I prefer apple (pie). ... I'm kind of a little biased in that.
"It's really fun to have something like this where we (expecting mothers) can get a perk," said Coakley, mother of six. She added that she had to sneak out of the house to avoid telling her kids where she was going, saying, "I couldn't watch them all while I was eating pie."
Marc Barnes, president of the Harmonium Project, announced the competition's winner and runner-up at 8 p.m.
Coming in second place was Mary Catherine Prostejovsky, who made a chocolate bourbon pie.
Earning first place, and a gift card to burrito and taco restaurant 4th Street Standard, was Clare Sharp, who made an apple pie with a crumble crust.
Sharp said her secret technique was putting lard from a local farm into the crust.