New Rochelle Grand Market Has Sweet Potato Pie Eating Contest Saturday

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — To celebrate Independence Day, the New Rochelle Downtown Grand Market will have on Saturday, July 1 live bluegrass music, free mini-American flags and a sweet potato pie eating contest. Three lucky contestants will be chosen from those who send an email with their first and last names, phone number and age to info@newrochellegrandmarket.com or who register up until 10:30 a.m. July 1 at the market manager’s table at the Grand Market.

The pies will be furnished by the Luscious Little Dessert Company.

Diana Scott-Sho, owner and baker of the Luscious Little Dessert Company, said the contest is meant to be fun.

The competition will begin at 11:30 a.m.

“When people gather around, pick their favorite contestant and cheer them on, it becomes just one more way in which the New Rochelle Grand Market is something special,” she said. [Get Patch’s Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts here.]

“And our signature pies are perfect for the good time. Just like apple or blueberry pie, sweet potato pie is pure Americana,” Scott-Sho said.

Participants must be at least 18 years old, organizers said.

In the competition, each contestant will endeavor to devour a full-sized, 9-inch pie — without using their hands.

The winner will be the one who finishes fastest or who eats the most in three minutes.

Each contestant will receive a treat from the Luscious Little Dessert Company and five “market buck” to use that day only at the Grand Market with any vendor.

The pie-eating winner will get an assortment of goodies from Scott-Sho and 25 “market bucks” to spend at the Grand Market that day only.

At noon, the Westchester Bluegrass Boys — musicians Arnie Fleischer, Tony DeLello, Kevin Cahill and Allen Cohen — will perform distinctly American roots music.

The New Rochelle Downtown Grand Market is held every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. through October at 1 Library Green in New Rochelle.