Thirteen delicious pies lucky duty for these judges

Cis Paulsen's winning blueberry cream pie ... what's left of it.

What a pie lovers' delight it was last Saturday afternoon at Palmetto Historical Park.
Cheesecake.
Lemon meringue.
Sweet potato.
That was only part of the lineup in the pie tasting before a hungry panel of judges including County Commissioner Larry Bustle, North River Fire Marshal Ron Cales, Palmetto Police Chief Rick Wells and yours truly for Palmetto's Heritage Day Celebration.

Chief Rick Wells

There were 13 pies in all and each was wonderful.
If you like pecan pie --- and I do --- there wasn't just one or two, but three entries!
There were a couple of lemon meringue pies, as well.
And a banana cream pie.
And a butter milk.
And a couple of catchy creations called pie pops, shaped like hearts, one flavored lemon, the other cherry.
The darkhorse in the event had no catchy name but it did have killer ingredients like dark chocolate, maple, bacon and pecan.
Mmm-mmmmm!
Scoring was high across the panel and we thought the contest might end in a tie.
It didn't.
Third place went to a Ginny Whelan's scrumptious strawberry rhubarb pie.
Second, to Mary Alta Dowd Griffin's lemon meringue pie.
First place to went to Cis Paulsen's blueberry cream pie, a winner for taste and appearance, too.
The judges weren't the only ones who liked it most.
So did members of the audience.
By the time the Cis picked up her pan, there was one narrow wedge of her winning pie left to take home.