Windham High School student wins pie contest at Fryeburg Fair

By Masha Yurkevich

WHS sophomore Ava Blanchard
with her award-winning Two
Crusted Apple Pie at the
Fryeburg Fair.
SUBMITTED PHOTO

 It is now officially sweater weather, which means that it is also officially pie season, and Windham High School (WHS) sophomore student Ava Blanchard took pie season very seriously this year. The Katahdin Program at WHS, which Blanchard is a part of, has been participating in pie contests at the Fryeburg Fair, and this year, Blanchard entered and won the junior division of the Two crusted Apple Pie contest.

Blanchard is part of Christine Fredette’s class, who is the STEM teacher at the Katahdin Program, as well as the WHS Alpine Coach and WHS cooking club co-advisor. The Katahdin Program provides alternative education programming for students grades 9-12 enrolled in the RSU14 school district. It is a small, community-focused school dedicated to addressing the social emotional and academic needs of all students, integrating outdoor adventures, service-learning, and restorative practices to meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of students. The program is designed to help students build critical thinking skills and a sense of community by customizing their path to graduation. 

“Years ago, we helped students enter the Whoopie Pie contest at the Fryeburg fair and won a few times,” says Fredette. “The apple pie contest is the one the students chose to do this year.”

Fredette says that having students bake pies not only teaches them a new skill, but also gives them a chance to risk entering the Fryeburg fair contest.

“I do not know any other teenagers who would take a risk and try to win,” she says. “By giving them the resources and time to do this at school, it lowers the risks, but the benefits are still great!”

In preparation for the pie contest, students baked for the two weeks leading up to the fair.

“The students had to find a pie recipe and write it out to submit it with their pie,” says Fredette. “We arrived at the fair and brought our pies to the exhibition center and entered them into the Two Crusted Apple Pie contest. Judging started at 1 PM, results were in by 2PM, and Ava had her blue ribbon by 2:30PM.

The pies were judged on appearance, taste, and ease of preparation (recipe write up). The Katahdin program entered five pies in the junior division. For several students, this was their first time baking an apple pie.

WHS sophomore Ava Blanchard comes from a very big line of bakers and cooks in her family.

“I thought to myself that I would not get this opportunity again, and I have never made an apple pie before, so I thought I would just go for it,” says Blanchard. “We were working and talking about pie making for about two weeks before the contest and I decided that I wanted to make a test pie myself a couple days before the fair.”

Out of about 20 other pies that competed in the Two Crusted Apple Pie contest, the pie that Blanchard made was the winner.

“I was very shocked and mind blown,” said Blanchard. “I was not at all expecting to win; I was really just competing for the fun of it.”

As a prize, Blanchard received $75 and a Blue Ribbon.

The Katahdin program is now baking pies for an Age Friendly Event that will happen on November 17th at Windham Town Hall, where Age Friendly Windham and Windham Parks and Recreation will be holding a Thanksgiving Community meal for residents 55+.