MONTICELLO — As if there’s not enough hoopla already going on at Family Fun Night, the official Riverfest kickoff is also when the annual pie-eating contest pits community members against one another in the messiest showdown of the year.
Former two-time champion Mayor Lloyd Hilgart triumphantly reclaimed his trophy Friday night, handily beating out the other nine brave souls who volunteered to publicly humiliate themselves by face-planting into whipped-cream laden pudding pies.
“I wanted to win badly and I did,” he said afterwards. “I was serious. I didn’t eat anything all day. I fasted 24 hours. I believe that this win is symbolic of things to come.”
The other contestants included Riverfest chairman Scott Maus; outgoing Royal Ambassadors Katrina Hellman, Elle Lageson and Brianna Holker; Sarah Sundine of Monticello Women of Today; Sgt. Dan Cotten of the Wright County Sheriff’s Department; Hunter Thurber of the Monticello Fire Department; Alan Loch of Loch Jewelers and the Rotary Club; and Parks Superintendent Josh Berthiaume.
The competition was judged by Citizen of the Year Jim Dickrell, who was made to take an oath, hand held over a pie plate, pledging to adjudicate fairly in the name of Betty Crocker.
“It’s a hoot, and I don’t have to eat anything,” he said, happy in his position.
With the trio of Royals donning shower caps to protect their rhinestone crowns and neatly coiffed hair, and the mayor tying on a bib, the contestants were each given their choice of vanilla or chocolate and told they could not use their hands.
A large audience had gathered, and the crowd went wild as each contestant dove in face-first.
Within minutes, Hilgart stood up, a healthy coating of vanilla pudding and whipped cream covering his nose and mouth, blowing on a party-style noisemaker to signal he had finished.
After Dickrell declared him the first-place winner, Hilgart gave himself a good toweling off before settling back to watch the remaining contestants struggle for second place.
That honor went to Elle Lageson, who had requested a dairy-free chocolate pie, which was made out of oat milk and covered in coconut whipped cream.
“Chocolate was not the way to go,” she reflected later. “I was tasting it for the next two days.”
The recent Monticello High School graduate said she felt sick afterward and had to walk it off — but it was worth it, especially because she met her goal of beating Thurber, who came in third place.
“It was definitely an unforgettable experience, so it trumps the tummy ache,” she said.
After the top three cleared their pie plates, trophies were handed out, with a jubilant Hilgart proudly raising his prize in the air.
After taking home the championship in 2013 and 2014, winning first place again was a point of pride for the mayor, who wanted to reprove himself after a more recent lackluster performance.
“I participated a couple years ago and got smoked,” he said. “I didn’t even place in the top three.”
This time, he had a solid strategy, learning from past mistakes.
“Make sure you don’t get it up your nose, because once that happens, you can’t breathe,” he said.
That did, in fact, appear to be the downfall of at least a couple of the contestants, including Cotten and Holker.
Despite feeling sick, Hilgart said he still managed to go out for a celebratory dinner later that night — but he passed on dessert.
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