This past weekend was Creative Action’s huge fall event I Spy Pie! located at Central Market. The weather was perfect for the family-fun activities offered such as crafts, games, face painting, live music, and of course, pie tasting!

The festivities kicked off at noon including a wonderful performance by the Emmy Award winning duo The Biscuit Brother’s, who did a great job getting the children up off their feet singing and dancing along to the music. One of my favorite parts of the performance was when they had a song about watermelons and needed a participant to count to ten in a language other than English. An adorable little girl stood up, took the microphone and started counting in Arabic and Chinese. It was very impressive.

By 12: 30 p.m., people were lining up to get their tickets to taste the wonderful pies that were offered by Central Market Bakery, Central Market Cooking School, Madison Street Desserts, Tiny Pies and Texas Pie Kitchen. Many UT student organizations, including Tower PR, were there to volunteer at the craft and pie tasting booths.

The two awards up for grabs were Judges Favorite and the People’s Choice. After everyone tasted the contestant’s pies, they were able to cast their vote for which they thought had the tastiest pies. Our three celebrity pie tasting judges Jim Swift, Nina Seely and John Bullington, Executive Chef had a really hard time awarding their favorite pie. They were all so delicious!

The enthusiasm at the event was lively and appetites for pie were at an ultimate high. As the pies underneath the tasting tent began to dwindle down to only crumbs, the awards were announced. Tiny Pies won the People’s Choice award for their delicious Bourbon Buttermilk Chess pie and Madison Street Desserts took home the Judges Favorite award for their Meyer Lemon Meringue pie (which was my personal favorite too!)

It was an amazing day for everyone and how could it get better when we get to taste the best pies in town! A huge thanks to Central Market and all of the bakeries involved for their support towards a great cause!

Creative Action (formerly Theatre Action Project) needs your pie-ness. This is creativeness with all things pie for our fall fundraiser,I Spy Pie! Saturday, October 20th at Central Market North. If you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and have fun and help us select the best pie in Austin, we’d love to have you sign up to volunteer. The event features fun family activities, arts and crafts for all ages, pie tastings, and bragging rights for the best pie in Austin. Sign up for 1 or 2 shifts. It’s easy as pie!

PS: My favorite pie is lemon meringue. I have a very distinct memory of being kid crying about something on my back porch and the next door neighbor lady had just made a fresh lemon meringue pie. No more tears after that!