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I received this message from LeLo in Nopo the other day. It looks like it will be a tasty-great time, and I do have a “High on Pie” kind of attitude most of the time. You have two days left, so start baking. If you can't bake, but want to try the pies out, LeAnn/Lelo has this to say:

If you're not bringing a pie, you can still come and love some pie with everyone: after judging, it will be first come first served, so I wouldn't be late!

Event Info:

The Portland Pie Commission is pleased to announce the 2008 Portland Pie-Off on Saturday August 30^th, 3:00 PM at the Washington Park Picnic Shelter (aka the Elephant House). Part contest, part community celebration of all things pie, the Portland Pie-Off is a chance to meet other pie lovers, win fun prizes with your pie-making prowess, swap recipes and eat pie! Mmmpie!

The rules are simple: Make a homemade pie (or several pies), show up promptly at 3:00 PM with $5.00 cash and submit as many as you wish in one or more of the 8 different categories (there are 12 categories for judging: see the website for details). Or just bring a pie for eating. In fact, we don't even care if you bring a pie as long as you come with a stellar HIGH ON PIE attitude and an appetite. This is a grass-roots effort and it's a first come first serve basis: don't be late! Parking is sparse: plan ahead! Better yet, you can also RSVP at: www.pie-off.blogspot.com and join in the on-going pie banter, information, stories and pie art leading up to the big day.

More on the event after the jump…

After the judging, the pies will be available for eating. The more pies you bring, the more chance everyone has of eating some. Bring your own chairs, serving utensils and beverages (beer and wine are ok, but hard liqueur is not), and any toppings to your pie you may demand. In other words, cheddar cheese or whipped cream? You're on your own. Environmentally friendly and compostable plates for the event are being supplied by Verterra. Thanks Verterra!

Categories for the Portland Pie-Off include, but are not limited to, fruit, cream, custard, pecan and pumpkin. Other inventive categories include best "Local Pie" (local ingredients), "Mash-Up" (use your creativity, folks), best pie and beverage pairing and even a category for "Faux Pie" (think Ritz cracker mock apple and you get the idea). In addition to the above categories, judges will give awards for best overall pie, prettiest pie and most creative pie. Local judges include Jack Bogdanski of www.bojack.org, Local pastry chef Kir Jensen of the haute gourmet pastry cart the Sugarcube (www.sugarcubepdx.com)

and Gary Walter of www.daddytude.com

The Portland Pie-Off is the brainchild of three pie loving gals, Gretchen, LeAnn and Lizzy. One day, just a few mere weeks ago, instead of working their very serious day jobs, they connected on Twitter (www.twitter.com) and realized they all loved pie. Very much. When Gretchen mentioned she had never had a peach pie. Lizzy mentioned her Mom's famous lemon chess pie and then LeAnn said, "wow, we should have a pie-off." The next thing we knew it was all over the internets, and LeAnn even created a website: www.pie-off.blogspot.com. From these humble beginnings, a wonderful event was born. We sure are having fun with it and hope that you will join us for even more pie-fun and pie-centric festivities on August 30^th.

For more information, including driving directions and pie-off contest rules, please go to:

www.pie-off.blogspot.com