A few years ago, I profiled a prizewinning pie-baker as she sought her 25th contest ribbon at the Puyallup Fair. Carol Lagasca was entering the contest with her sister, Barbara Dodenhoeft, and I tagged along for the excitement. I thought my heart would stop a couple times on the way:

“As the sisters approached Puyallup, a blinking road sign warned of “fair congestion.” The parking spot Dodenhoeft found just minutes from the entry line was declared off-limits by a guard. The flaggers in the $5 parking lot the next block down tried to wave her toward the far end precious minutes away.

“Can’t we park here? We have pies to enter!” Dodenhoeft exclaimed.

They made it to the entry line with seven minutes to spare.”

I returned to the fair’s Home Arts Pavilion this year, but, this time, as one of the judges. And the stress I felt was just the same, when I hit traffic and panicked that I might miss the deadline. I think I took the job doubly seriously, remembering how it felt to be in the audience, watching and waiting as the hours — yes, hours — ticked by, trying to pick up hints from the judges faces and the disappearing bites of pie.  I wrote about the judging debate and the winning recipe here, on Amazon.com’s Al Dente, where I’ve been a reader for some time and will now be a regular contributor. (It feels like a P-I reunion on that food page, meeting up again with former collegues Leslie Kelly and Tracy Schneider.) And, having now seen two sides of the contest, I think I need to practice my Art of the Pie skills and see if I can ever dream of being a competitor.

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