A Sweet 60 Seconds : Contestants Put Their Appetites for Lemon Meringue to the Test

Had they known his reputation for pushing down pastry, contestants in the Ventura County Fair’s annual pie-eating competition would have feared Andrew Vasquez.

The youth strutted onto the fairgrounds Friday afternoon as defending pie-eating champion in the 13-and-under division.

But a year as reigning pastry prince had done something to the Santa Paula teen-ager. It had made him older. And it had put him in the 14-and-over division.

Andrew was a boy among men Friday. He was bested by older contestants, thicker around the middle and with more natural pockets for pie placement. All he got for his trouble was a yellow ribbon, given to all participants, and a nose full of meringue.

“He’ll be back next year,” proclaimed his proud father, Terry. “He eats like a man.”

There is no better place at the fairgrounds to hold a pie-eating contest than the Seabreeze Community Stage, which is surrounded by a dizzying assortment of fair food.

Egg rolls on a stick. Oversized pretzels and strudel. And, of course, world famous Texas Donuts.

The pie-eating contest is a popular event sponsored by the Junior Fair Board, where contestants are given 60 seconds to wolf down as much pie as possible. Judges view the sticky remains and determine a winner.

Before the contest, stacks of white pie boxes are ceremoniously trucked in on an official fair vehicle.

Two golden trophies are placed on a table inches from where the contestants will bury their faces into lemon meringue pies, heavy on the meringue. The pies were chocolate last year. The switch keeps perpetual contestants off balance.

The 13-and-under division went first. Children wrapped themselves with plastic trash bags and leaned, hands behind their backs, over their chosen dessert.

Then they ate. And came up for air. And ate some more.

“Everybody stay by your pie,” an announcer said when 60 seconds was up. “The judges need to see who ate the most.”

Stephanie Burdette ate the most in the junior division. The 11-year-old from Camarillo chomped her way almost down to the crust of her pie. Another 11-year-old, Adam Cahill from Santa Paula, didn’t do so well. Even the back of his head was smeared with the sticky cream.

“I don’t like lemon meringue so I just moved it all around instead of eating it,” said Adam, a first-time contestant who trained for the event by eating his meals as fast as possible once in a while.

Then it was time for the big boys.

Andrew, the reigning junior champion, lined up alongside 45-year-old Mike Parish, whose pie-eating training consisted of throwing down a couple of beers before the event.

Parish, a commercial diver from Oxnard, finished second behind Alan Bilbo of Ventura. A little woozy and in need of air, Parish was still wearing his plastic trash bag when his name was announced.

“Oh, my stomach is going to hurt tomorrow,” he said.

Andrew, with his pie smeared over his face and hair, took his consolation yellow ribbon and threw it to his younger brothers.

“I don’t know whether I’ll try this again next year,” he said.