Pie in the Sky Carnival- Liberty Lake, WA by Erin

August 13, 2007

So many pies to eat, so little time. At least that’s what it seemed like at the Pie in the Sky Carnival in Liberty Lake, Washington. After settling into Spokane for a few hours, we journeyed to Liberty Lake on our bus, and we felt like the most popular vehicle on the road. The ride lasted only 20 minutes, but the whole way there people were honking their horns and waving to us. Looks like our reputation precedes us!

Set at Pavilion Park, The Pie in the Sky Carnival was a celebration of local food grown and made in northeast Washington through the medium of the pie. Hosted by Washington State University Spokane County Extension, Liberty Lake Farmers Market, Greenstone Corporation, and the City of Liberty Lake, the event was packed with people from the local community interested in exploring various locally grown foods with the focus on pie ingredients. Vendors sold pies of every variety – including blueberry, cherry, peach and apple. The most popular booths were The Scoop – an old vintage truck selling fresh ice cream – and White Box Bakery, which sold fresh pie by the slice alamode. There were also representatives from Slow Food Spokane River Convivium, Spokane Community Gardens, and local farmers markets selling fresh fruit. One farmer was selling bags of huckleberries, a fruit that is difficult, if not almost impossible, to cultivate. They grow wild in the Pacific Northwest on the lower slopes of mountains, and the workers have to manually pick the huckleberries. But all their work is worth it – the huckleberries were amazing, and The Scoop was even serving huckleberry-flavored ice cream.

A local folk band called The Blue Ribbon Tea Company Band played throughout the two hours of the event, and even helped out with the Pie Walk. For those of you unfamiliar with a traditional Pie Walk, it is very similar to Musical Chairs – except the chairs are replaced with numbers on the floor, and when the music stops, a number is drawn from a hat to determine the winner of a whole pie. Whole families participated, including one woman with her baby in one hand, and her dog in the other. There were also a few pie making demonstrations throughout the evening, and our very own raffle to win a "Take Back the Tap" water bottle from Food & Water Watch. Our table was very popular at the event, and we certainly made some new friends here in Spokane. This was one of the best turnouts we’ve had, and we know it will just keep getting better and better.

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