Magazine says Machias pie best in nation

MACHIAS – Blueberry pies are in, and the town’s little secret is out: Machias-made pies are worthy of national attention.

Blueberry pies in Machias got a double dose of publicity across the country Wednesday.

First, organizers of the Machias Wild Blueberry Festival confirmed that ESPN’s “SportsCenter” will film the festival’s pie-eating contest on Aug. 20.

Then, Helen’s Restaurant learned that next week’s issue of Life magazine will identify Maine and the Machias restaurant as the best place in the country to find blueberry pie.

The all-sports television channel is including the pie-eating contest in its “50 events in 50 states” summer series. Day after day, starting on July 17 when the Boston Red Sox face the New York Yankees in Fenway Park, the station will be traversing the country and featuring America’s best-loved summer activities.

Eating pie in Machias in August is one of them. The Machias Bay Area Chamber of Commerce got a call recently asking if 23 rooms could be set aside for the television crew.

Producers of the live remote segment will train their cameras on dozens of young people turning their faces blue and grinning with blueberry-covered teeth once they come up for air.

Norman Nelson, a Machias resident in his late 80s, has been announcing the contest ever since it started in 1997.

“It’s mostly a children’s event, you know,” Nelson said on Wednesday. “It’s fun to see how messy they become and how they go at it. Once time is called and they straighten up, oh, what a mess.

“Everybody has a good laugh.”

The contest takes place on Saturday, Aug. 20, the second of the festival’s three days. At 11 a.m. on the steps of the Centre Street Congregational Church, children step up to the plate, put their hands behind their backs and eat as much as they can within 60 seconds.

Nelson provides the running commentary.

“I keep at them about keeping their hands behind them,” he said. “I tell them to keep the pie on the table with their nose, because if it falls to the ground, they’re disqualified.

“Then I announce that the runner-up is so-and-so from such-and-such. Then I say AND THE WINNER IS … That’s the fun part.”

Across town at Helen’s Restaurant, the pie always stays on the table. It’s that good – good enough to top LIFE magazine’s list of “the sweetest batch of America’s best pie.”

Slated for next week’s issue, the magazine says: “Too often blueberry pie can be gummy, but Helen’s Restaurant in Machias [Maine] uses local berries that are tiny and flavorful. Just beware: They’ll stain everything they touch.”

Helen’s blueberry pie is paired with lemon icebox pie from Georgia, cherry pie from Michigan and olallieberry pie from California.

Judy Hanscom, the owner of Helen’s, was flattered to learn of LIFE’s choice.

On a typically busy day in August at the height of tourist season Down East, Helen’s makes and sells more than 100 pies with six slices to a pie.

“People heading for Canada drive Route 1 just to stop here for the pie,” she said. “They’ll come through Machias rather than take Route 9.”

The secret ingredient throughout the 55 years of blueberry pie served fresh at Helen’s is a dash of cinnamon, she revealed.

Although Helen’s top seller in summer, blueberry pie isn’t everybody’s favorite. Whenever Bill Cohen, Maine’s former senator, passed through Machias on his way to Campobello Island, he would order apple pie to go, Hanscom said.

Martha Stewart and a friend sampled blueberry cream, raspberry cream and strawberry cream pies all at once from the lunch counter.

Another customer, Hanscom remembers, liked to doodle, leaving behind a cartoon he drew on the menu. Two were sampling pie to which he added: “Pies you remember the rest of your life.”

BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY KATHERINE CASSIDY

Linda Richards, a waitress at Helen’s Restaurant in Machias since 1983, shows off the restaurant’s signature blueberry pie. Helen’s blueberry pie is being touted by LIFE magazine as the country’s best blueberry pie.