It’s High Time For Pie Time

Harris Wallman only needed an hour to craft his delicious blueberry-mint-cream cheese pie for the summer’s first Hi-Fi Pie Fest. The base, made up of sugar cookie dough, had a cream cheese filling seasoned with lemon juice, lemon zest, and ginger. The pie couldn’t be complete without the pièce de résistance: a creamy blueberry sauce layered on top.

Monday night was the first installment of Hi-Fi Pie Fest at Beecher Park, located at Mitchell Library at 37 Harrison St. Hi-Fi Pie is an annual summer pie baking competition and music festival hosted by the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance (WVRA).

Neighbors and community members are invited to submit pies based on a rotating theme each week. The fest lasts for five weeks and takes place every Monday evening with its final installment being on Aug. 5. The event had 15 individual pie submissions, with adult bakers bringing two pies while youth are required to submit only one. This week’s theme was berry pies and featured Malby Rojas, owner of Malby’s Pastries, as the special guest contest judge.

Harris isn’t new to Hi-Fi Pie: this is his fourth year participating in the baking contest, and he’s a past winner of the youth baking category. A love for baking runs in the family, and his mother Sarah Harris Wallman has been a loyal Hi-Fi-Pie attendee for over 12 years.

Wallman takes a hands-off approach when guiding Harris’ culinary interests, allowing her son to tap into his own creative juices and use the kitchen. Wallman said that he has seen Harris grow in the kitchen and gain more experience — namely, in measuring proportions.

Harris added that his favorite part of the baking process was making the blueberry sauce.

“It’s fun to taste test it, ​’cause you always have to taste it to see if you need more sugar or if you have enough [sauce] for both sides,” he said.

As they enjoyed the sounds from Mariachi Laureles del Monte, a youth mariachi band from the Spanish Community of Wallingford (SCOW), Wallman and her sons snacked on their own pies. But they also made sure to try others.

In the next few weeks, Wallman said she plans to bring her sister, who’s visiting from Atlanta, to join in on the competition.

“I expect to see her in her one night in New Haven win the pie contest,” she said before bursting into laughter.

For WVRA Executive Director Lizzy Donius the event is ​“multigenerational,” and she sees recurring faces and families volunteer every year, along with their pie submissions. Donius herself stepped out of her comfort zone as an event organizer and put her hat in the ring, submitting a strawberry peach pie.

“I’ve never made a good pie before … and I can’t believe how good it is,” she said. ​“It took me eight years to learn how to make a pie, and I got it down. I think I’m gonna drop the mic and never do it again.

In the program room of the library, Charlotte Anderholt cut and packed pie slices alongside her daughter Theodora — ​“Teddy.” Anderholt has been participating in the Hi-Fi Pie Fest for eight years and shows no signs of stopping.

Her cranberry tart pie with hazelnut crust and dark magenta cream, which took an entire day to make, stood prominently among the sea of dark purple and blueberry pies that surrounded it on the table. The pie is an annual Thanksgiving staple she makes for her family.

“It’s my favorite [recipe]. I liked it because cranberry was a little bit different than the others,” she said, ​“and because it’s so hot, I feel like cranberry, like the tartness, might be kind of refreshing.”

Like mother, like daughter: 11-year-old Teddy has a strong affinity for baking, winning first place in the youth baker section with her blueberry and strawberry basil pie, and receiving a Hi-Fi Pie rolling pin. Following behind Theodora was 10-year-old Alison Fitzpatrick who was runner-up with her raspberry creme pie.

The first-place winner in the adults competition was Ravit Avni Singer.

For Teddy, winning came as a shock. With the baking contest sneaking up on her this year, Teddy said she made the pie at the last minute, wanting to have something to contribute to the festival.

With the rising temperatures, Alison opted for a chilled pie, incorporating raspberries to commemorate her favorite berry. The preparation and assembly took two hours in total.

Like Teddy, Alison expressed disbelief of winning runner up, believing her pie ​“looked like kind of a mess,” but she highlighted the carefree nature of the event that makes room for mistakes and culinary delights.

“If you mess up, it doesn’t matter,” she said. ​“It’ll probably still be delicious.”