Bakers compete for glory, fun and fluffy ribbons at marionberry pie bake-off
Two years ago, Alicia Duman was on her way to the marionberry pie contest at the Marion County Fair when her car was struck from the side at an intersection.
Following the crash, “my pie was absolutely atrocious,” she said. “It was perfect, and then I got T-boned on my way here.”
She was quick to handle the exchange of insurance information with the responsible party. Hustling, she called a ride to the fair, pie in hand, though only somewhat intact.
The judges raised eyebrows at the state of Duman’s pie when she made it to the fair.
“I said, ‘It’s not boiled over — it was in a car accident on the way here,’” she said.
Despite the presentation, Duman still took home first prize in the contest that year.
This year, Duman and four other contestants participated in the Marion County Fair’s marionberry pie contest on Thursday, tucked away in the far northwest corner of Columbia Hall at the Oregon State Fairgrounds. This year’s five entries are the most pies that have ever been submitted to the competition.
Three bakers will take home ribbons at the end of the weekend for first, second, and third place prizes. They include Duman, who placed second.
Bakers were judged on presentation, crust and filling, with each category eligible for up to 10 points for a top score of 30.
This year’s winner, Michelle Wofford, was a first-time entrant in the marionberry pie contest. She had never made marionberry pie before, but is a frequent baker in her spare time at home for her three kids.
“I looked up several recipes and just picked and chose what I wanted to do based on what I read in different recipes, and then made my own,” she said.
Wofford doesn’t follow any hard and fast rules with baking, but for the contest, she took care to make an intricate lattice top.
“That was something I focused on, you gotta have the straight lines and make sure there’s not berries all over,” she said. “And then getting the edge to look presentable — that’s not an easy thing either.”
She came across the pie contest while registering her daughter, 15, and her mini rex rabbit for the 4-H competition at the county fair.
“This was just something I did for fun. I figured, why not give it a try? I’m surprised,” she said. “I might compete again next year — like ‘how do I top this?’”
Marion County Commissioner Colm Willis and Sheriff Nick Hunter judged the contest. Willis dug into the pies, taking a hearty slice from each before making his ranking.
“I’m goin’ to town, sheriff,” he said to his co-judge. “They’re making this really hard.”
Willis isn’t new to the pie game — this is the third year in his memory where he’s had a seat at the judge’s table. He said that his enthusiasm for the contest is what gets him selected as the county commissioner judge year after year.
“I take all the hard jobs,” he joked. “Marionberries were created here in the county, so I think there’s something somewhat patriotic about being a part of the marionberry pie competition in Marion County.”
Duman was particularly proud of her presentation this year — a lattice top that had a flower shape cut out of it.
“He loves to destroy things,” she said with a smile, referring to Willis, who had judged her bakes in the past. “I worked so hard on it.”
She grows two bushes of marionberries in her yard, but they weren’t quite ready in time for the competition this year. Duman’s tip for a great pie is to start from the source with local berries.
Hers came from Grandpa’s Fresh Market in Albany. “It’s actually incredibly hard to find marionberries on time. I think that’s why there were only two entries my first year,” she said.
This was Duman’s third year competing in the marionberry pie contest, and she says it will be her last. Each year, she spends roughly $80 to bake a pie for the competition that, unfortunately, largely goes to waste.
The rules of the contest don’t allow competitors to take their pies home after judging. They’re to remain on display in Columbia Hall until the end of the weekend in a refrigeration unit that Duman says is subpar.
“It’s $80 worth of pie that goes straight in the trash,” she said. “I realized that no matter what, I can just make myself a pie and buy myself a ribbon because I feel like it’s still deserving. I don’t even want to place, I want the fluffy ribbon.”
She keeps her ribbon awards from various submissions to county and state fair baking contests in a wooden and glass box in her home. Right above the box where she keeps her “fluffies,” as she calls them, there’s a photo of her great-grandparents.
“My great-grandmother, she was really good at all this stuff,” Duman said. “So any time I’m struggling, I just look at the picture, and I remember her yelling at me to get out of the kitchen. Now I can sit there and go, no, I don’t have to.”
Have a news tip? Contact reporter Mirandah Davis-Powell: [email protected] or 541-621-5176.
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Mirandah Davis-Powell was an intern for Salem Reporter in the summer of 2025, primarily covering food, farms and agriculture. She joined the newsroom from the Charles Snowden Program for Excellence in Journalism as a reporter from the University of Oregon.
