Yes, I’m one of the hordes of people who will be baking a pie and taking it down to Washington Park on Saturday for the Pie-Off.

Yes, that Pie-Off—the one WWeek featured earlier this week, the one that had potential contestants on Twitter grousing about how “intimidating” it sounded now.

Intimidating? Who cares that an 8-time winner of blue ribbons at the Oregon State Fair might be showing up, pies in hand? Or that the new darling of the food cart scene, Sugar Cube pastry chef Kir Jensen, is one of the judges? See, I’m determined—and I’ve got my three-part strategic plan down, baby. I don’t even mind revealing it to y’all, either:

1. Pick a niche. Anyone can try for the Best Pumpkin Pie, or Best Creme Pie. But I’m going to strike a pose for originality, myself. (Just you wait and see!)
2. Develop a schtick. See, my daughter and I are showing up as the mother-daughter team, each with our own pies. And I dare those judges to look into my angelic child’s eyes (or see her modeling her own custom hand-crafted LeLo apron) and deny her a ribbon…

which leads to item number three

3. Suck up to the judges. Starting…now. Oh, Mr. Bogdanski? Have I told you lately how much I love you? (In a purely admiring and/or platonic way, of course.) And Gary Walter—your children are both beautiful and clearly, undeniably intelligent. (They must take after both parents.) Kir? I don’t know you personally, but I love what you do. (Also see previous sucking-up above.)

Sure, I could just decide to rock it out with a world-class pie or something. And who knows—I just might. But in this season of political maneuverings and/or shenanigans, it may not hurt to have a little something-something in your back pocket—if you want to walk away with a blue ribbon, that is.

Soooo—bring it. Saturday at 3 pm at Washington Park.

We’ll be waiting…!

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Yes, there’s a ton of great performances happening all over town this weekend. But I want to draw your attention to one particular performance. Why? Because my kid’s one of the actors, that’s why!

To be fair, I’d probably be boasting about New Moon Productions anyway – every summer, they gather up 60 or so aspiring young actors between 8 and 17 years old, coach them through four weeks of musical theater camp, and then let them star in free performances on two weekends in July in the Washington Park Amphitheater. My daughter attended last year’s camp & got hooked – so we’re back again to work with Artistic Director Michael Wehrli and his talented group this year.

This year’s show? Willy Wonka. And while you could go to the 10 am show on Saturday or the 12 noon show on Sunday, well – I’ll be at the 12 pm Saturday performance myself, watching my kid play (totally against type, don’t you know) the “I want it NOW!” kid, Veruca Salt.

If you’ve got kids, bring ‘em by – along with your blankets, low-slung beach chairs, and maybe a dollar or two for the collection basket. (Yes, the show’s free – but it’s also a sure bet no one’s making money off the camp itself, which is really reasonably priced, offers some scholarships & is housed at a school that provides free lunches for kids all summer long, for starters.)

See, I have it on good authority that Veruca’s expecting a big crowd for her debut – and what kind of Web 2.0 parent would I be if I didn’t use every possible avenue available to me in order to make it so?

Related Posts

• August 28, 2008 -- My Winning Pie-Off Strategy (11)
• July 19, 2008 -- Salt-y Talk at the Children’s Theater (0)