CENTERBURG — Apple, pumpkin, berry, peanut butter, peach and mincemeat are among the wide selection of pies sold Saturday during the Centerburg Oldtime Farming Festival pie auction. The pastries were accompanied by an array of items, ranging from ceramic pie plates to baskets filled with coffee, mugs and napkins to sculpture, a pie safe and even a birdcage.
Also with their pies, successful bidders took home Boyd’s Bears, a “treasure chest,” recipe books and a wine cabinet.
First, though, was the auction featuring the winning cookies in the youth cookie contest sponsored by Kristi’s Bakery and Pizza Burg. The orange drop cookies baked by second-grader Olivia Gregory brought in $50 and the snickerdoodles created by sixth-grader Danielle Nininger raised $90. The girls each received a gift certificate from Pizza Burg.
The auction was presided over by Sam McQueen and raised $8,055 to support the farming festival. The top seller, at $750, was an apple pie that came with a wooden tractor memorializing the festival and the area’s agricultural heritage.
Centerburg’s Post Office personnel designed the second-best seller. Their caramel apple pie came with a mosaic of the American flag created from hundreds of stamps and other items. It brought in $625.
Ninety-year-old Frank Griffith has been a faithful bidder for many years at the festival and was the third-highest spender, paying $550 for a square apple pie baked by his daughter.
The Heart of Ohio Association denoted the fourth-highest seller. The blackberry pie came with a wealth of Centerburg memorabilia, including a mirror etched with the shape of Ohio.
The top three bidders, who purchased multiple items, received commemorative plaques in appreciation of their support. Two plaques went to Teresa Vaughn of Clearwater Pools, because she was also the highest cookie bidder. Lisa Alexander of First-Knox National Bank and Jim Kasner of Kasner Electric were the other honorees.
Betty Sands has been attending the festival since its inception about 18 years ago, and has played in every euchre tournament they’ve had. She said Saturday’s weather was perfect for the festival, which has gotten bigger and bigger over the years.
Saturday, though, was only Sands’ third time at the pie auction.
“I belong to a senior services group,” she said, “and this year we made a pie to auction. I did a little painting to put in the basket with the pie, and I’m just curious to see how it sells.”
The seniors’ apple cream pie sold for $225.
