Collingswood Farmers Market Peach Pie Contest Saturday

Want $50 to spend at the Collingswood Farmers Market? 

All you've got to do is bake one of the best peach pies in town—and prove it publicly in a no-holds-barred tasting competition.

It all goes down August 3, but you must register to participate.

Send an e-mail to betsycookdesign@gmail.com with your name, e-mail address, home address, phone number, and pie category ("peaches," or "peaches plus"; see below)—and be ready to rock at 9:30 a.m. this Saturday.

The following contest information reprinted from the Collingswood Farmers Market e-mail (click here for original).

One pie per contestant, please. Bring what you think is YOUR best pie. Period.

• At 9:30 on August 3, bring your pie to the judging tent (location will be marked with signage, ask at info booth near the band if you can't find it).
• Pies will be assigned a number upon arrival for anonymous judging.
• Judging begins at 10. Pies arriving after judging begins will be disqualified.
• There will be a team of several judges who will individually judge the pies using a scoring system. Pies with the highest cumulative score in each category wins.

• $50 in Market gift certificates for "Best Peaches Only"—consisting of peaches as the only fruit used, and with NO OTHER fruit. Nuts are fair game.
• $50 in Market gift certificates for "Best peach pie PLUS"—consisting of peaches plus any creative fruit, dried fruit, nut, or ingredient combinations.
• $50 in Market gift certificates for Best Pie Presentation—the most photogenic pie deserves a prize. The pie itself. (Please, no cloths, settings, cake stands, searchlights, or accessories. We don't have the room.)
• Market may divide a particularly large category in half at its discretion, to have a winner from each half, each winning $50. Just so the judges don't burst.

*(Two way ties will split the prize in half, each winning $25.

A three-or-more-way tie—each winner gets $20 in gift certificates to the Market.) We reserve the right to deliver the prizes at a later date.

We will remove a slice of pie for the judging and the remainder of the pies go back home with the pie bakers (so everybody wins!) to enjoy at the end of the contest. The contest will take about an hour.

Market is not responsible for plates, pies or anything submitted for judging, and will discard any items left on the tables past noon.

Frequently asked questions
Can I win two categories? Yes, you could possibly bring the best looking AND best-tasting pie.

Is lemon juice considered a fruit? For our purposes, fruit juice is not fruit.

Are nectarines peaches? According to our resident orchard experts, Schober Orchards, a nectarine IS a type of peach.

Crusts? Up to you. Crust diversity is part of the fun.

I'm not sure what category I'm in? Choose your category wisely. It's part of the fun. The judges will let you know if you've picked the right category by choosing your pie as a winner.

Do the bakers have to be there for the judging/tasting? No, you could still win if we can't find you at the time of the results. Return at 11 to reclaim your pie, though.

Can I bring a tart? Why not? Our judges are picking the best pies based on their personal, highly subjective standards of what a pie "is", that's why we have several judges. (You'll never get a 10 from the Russian judge, though, for putting a tart in a pie contest.)

Do you have any idea what time the judging will be over? We hope to begin promptly at 10 and announce the winner by 11. However, because we can't guess how many pies will be registered, that is only an estimate.