Let them Eat Pie!

Are you going to the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival this weekend? Want to know how to get a cheap pumpkin pie?


You can get a whole pie for a fraction of what they're selling a slice for at the fest by heading on over to the pie-eating contest.

The last time I went, I had no intention of entering the contest, I just wanted to see the spectacle, but when they began passing around cinnamon scented 9-inch pumpkin pies for the contest and I asked “how much” and they said “a buck,” I whipped out a dollar for the decadent dessert faster than you can say trick-or-treat. I even got it smothered in whipped cream by holding out my purchased pie as the cream-dispensing guy walked by. I was in heaven. I didn’t have a fork and I didn’t care. Neither did the people I shared it with.

Insider’s tip: Start hanging around the Bank of America Family Stage a little before 2:45pm on Saturday or Sunday. That’s when the competition for kids 12 and older begins. Position yourself close enough so that you’re within the pie-purchasing realm, but far enough so that you can make a quick get away after the dough exchange. This is not a pie for scarfing down with half of it ending up on your shirt for all to see, this is a pie to secretly savor in some shadowy corner where you can lick the pan clean.