The folks at Helen’s Restaurant in Machias will have to bake a few more blueberry pies.

Hot on the heels of the news that Life magazine has named the eatery the maker of the best blueberry pies in the nation comes word that ESPN has chosen Machias as its Maine location for a live broadcast of SportsCenter in August.

The broadcast – Aug. 20 from Centre Street Congregational Church – is part of ESPN’s “SportsCenter Across America: 50 States/50 Days” promotional tour and will feature the 30th annual Machias Wild Blueberry Festival’s pie-eating contest.

“As soon as we saw that event, we knew it was perfect for our purposes and we jumped at it,” said ESPN spokesperson Diane Lamb. “In each state, we tried to select an event that has a unique social and cultural significance.”

Lamb did not know what, if any, other Maine locations or events were considered.

“Between the timing and nature of [the contest] and the logistics involved in coming there, it was an obvious choice for us,” she said.

SportsCenter anchor John Anderson will broadcast live from a mobile set in at 6 p.m., 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. He’s one of 15 ESPN anchors who will broadcast from all 50 states, starting July 17. Machias is the 35th stop on the tour.

ESPN will employ five separate crews to produce the 150 broadcasts. The 50 States project has been in the works for three months.

“This is a phenomenal opportunity for ESPN to touch our viewers, to personally meet the fans who watch us every day,” Norby Williamson, senior vice-president and managing editor, stated in a press release. “Along the way, we will educate our viewers about the varied sporting events popular throughout the county and point out the well-known, and perhaps not-so-well-known athletes and events from each state.”

The tour begins July 17 in Boston with arguably sports’ best rivalry as the Red Sox host the New York Yankees and winds its way across the nation from Fairbanks, Alaska (World Eskimo-Indian Olympics, July 21) to Heber Springs, Ark., (Cardboard Boat Racing Championship., July 30); Port Republic. Md., (jousting tournament, Aug. 27); Gueydan, La., (Gueydan Duck Festival, Aug. 28) and McAlester, Okla., (the only official prison rodeo, Sept. 2).

“We were thinking about different things we could do with SportsCenter and thought this would be a great way to connect with viewers,” said Lamb, adding that late summer was purposely chosen because it’s a somewhat lighter schedule in terms of pro sports coverage.

Such little-known or unknown locales as Lost Prairie, Mont.; Surprise, Ariz.; Snowshoe Mountain, W.Va.; and West Allis, Wis. will be showcased during the tour. Even armed services installations like Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado (women’s softball) will be highlighted.

Seeing stars while surfing

For the first time ever, baseball fans will be able to view live action from Minor League Baseball All-Star games online. Last week’s webcast of the Florida State League All-Star game (June 17) was the first of 10 live, game-day webcasts featuring boxscores, play-by-play, and statistics in addition to a live video or audio webcast of each game at MiLB.com.

The 2005 Eastern League All-Star Game in Portland Wednesday, July 13 is included among the 10 webcasts. The next scheduled ones are Tuesday (California/Carolina game and the South Atlantic League All-Star Game).

Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), Minor League Baseball’s official statistics company and operator of MiLB.com, will supply the data and content of these games.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net