Skip to main content

Winning Pies at Draper Days

Aug 01, 2016 09:13AM ● By Erin Dixon

Assortment of contesting pies. —Erin Dixon

By Erin Dixon 


Draper, Utah - Nestled in a corner of the park in an unobtrusive pavilion sat twelve pies. Some adorned with sweet cream,some with summer berries, and others with a crisp lattice crust. The pies waited in trepidation for the fated knife, their fillings ready to spill out and be devoured.

The winning pie, Caramel Apple Pecan, was rich but not cloying. The crust was buttery and flaky but didn’t fall apart. Irma McDonald spends her days working at Granite Bakery and Bridal making cakes, but her landlord Gwendolyn Smith mentioned the local pie contest and Irma decided to enter. She said, “I just grab a recipe that I’ve done multiple times and gave it an extra spin to it. I really had fun with this.” She contributes the success of her pie to her husband Darren McDonald because, “without him, I would have not gotten the pie done in time. He help me a lot to get it done.”

Strawberry Cream Pie was the youth winner. The cream was light and smooth, and the berries were bright and fresh..Its creator Van Seamons found the recipe online but tinkered it to suit his  own tastes. His mother, 3rd place winner in the adult category, Julia Seamons said that she “helped 0% with his pie.” Van entered several years ago but came in last. This year was his redemption.

The other winning pies were as follows: Adult 2nd place Banana Chocolate Cream Pie by Virginia Bobzin, 3rd place Draper Days Candy Bar by Julia Seamons. Youth 2nd place The Limelight! by Jordyn Parker, 3rd place Cookie Butter Banana by Juliet Sokol.

This year, the 7th year of the contest, the judges were Draper City Mayor Troy K. Walker, neighborhood baking enthusiast Jennifer Pulley, and Draper Journal writer Erin Dixon. The judges of the youth pies were Draper Youth Mayor T.K. Polevoy, Miss Draper Sage Nielson,  and Officer Alan Price.

The pie contest is a yearly contest at Draper Days. If you are interested in participating next year, check http://www.draper.ut.us/index.aspx?nid=776 for updates.