Pie Fest isn’t happening, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still celebrate Pi Day with pie

Saturday is Pi Day — or let’s call it Pi(e) Day.

The holiday began as a celebration of π, the never-ending number generated when you divide the circumference of a circle by its diameter. It comes around on March 14 because the number begins with 3.14.

But it caught on, it seems, largely because people really like pie — which, besides its , coincidentally, is round, too.

This year, Senior Services for South Sound had planned its annual Pie Fest baking contest and fundraiser to coincide with Pi Day for the first time ever.

The fest — which last year raised nearly $4,000 for senior services and the Thurston County Food Bank — won’t happen this year due to concerns about COVID-19, also known as coronavirus.

“We have decided to cancel out of care and caution for the seniors in our community,” Eileen McKenziesullivan, senior services’ executive director, told the Olympian.

It’s a loss for pie lovers as well as for senior services and the food bank. The 2019 fest dished out 385 slices of pie before running out after the first hour, McKenziesullivan said.

Fortunately for those with an unquenchable passion for pie, Pi Day is here.

San Francisco’s Exploratorium began celebrating the day in 1988, and the first event was focused on fruit pies, though the festivities have since expanded to include a Pi Procession and other themed activities. (Find out more at exploratorium.edu/pi/.)

It became a U.S. national holiday in 2009, and though it’s popular with math and science lovers and with teachers who want to make math more fun, it’s most often used as a good reason to eat pie — sometimes lots and lots of it.

The Olympian has heard tales of more than one local workplace where not much gets done on March 14 after 1:59 p.m., when the pies are traditionally served. (The next three digits of π are 159.) There’s at least one where the festivities start first thing in the morning with a breakfast quiche.

Local bakers and their families get into the spirit at home, too. Jamie Fenix Foster of Olympia plans to make a sweet potato pie in honor of the irrational number. “Any excuse to make a pie,” she said.

And Victoria Cunningham plans her signature buttermilk pie, a creamy custard pie. “Many days are pie days at our house,” she said. “I grew up in the South … so pies are something I always celebrate.”

Martha Chubb, whose friends and co-workers at the Olympia Food Co-op know her as “the goddess of pies,” doesn’t usually even think about Pi Day — but maybe that’s because for her, pie day happens all the time.

Chubb, who’s been baking pies for 50 years using her mother’s recipes, teaches co-op classes on how to make her signature crust, made with oil.

“Making good pie crust is challenging for a lot people, and they’re scare of it,” she told the Olympian.

“Oil crust with a neutral oil like safflower or canola is flaky and delicious,” she said, adding, “It’s kind of an oddball recipe. I only know one other person or maybe two who have always made oil-based pie crust.”

The recipe can be tricky, she said. That’s why she teaches classes rather than simply sharing it. “You can’t handle it very much,” she said. “You have to roll it out between waxed paper.”

Chubb loves to eat pie — especially apple and berry — but her favorite part about baking pies is giving them away.

“I enjoy passing them along,” she said. “I love to take a pie someplace and hear, ‘This is the best pie I’ve ever had.’ I love knowing that people really enjoy my pies.”

Pie Making

What: Get ready for Pi Day 2021 with a class offered by Martha Chubb, who’s been baking pie for 50 years.

When: 4-6:30 p.m. April 5

Where: GRUB (Garden-Raised Urban Bounty, 2016 Elliott Ave. NW, Olympia

Tickets: $7, advance registration required

More information: olympiafood.coop/event/

This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 5:45 AM.