Photos by Dominic Valente
The third annual downtown Phoenix Pie Social will return Saturday with more celebrity bakers, community bakers, food trucks and even a croquet competition.
Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation acting director Cindy Dach said the Pie Social will have approximately 150 community bakers as well as at least 400 people in attendance, the largest turnout since the Pie Social’s inception. The social will take place on Roosevelt and Second streets.
“We’re hoping it’ll be huge,” Dach said. “Especially with the last minute additions to the celebrity list.”
According to Dach, Aaron Chamberlain of St. Francis was recently added to the celebrity baker list, though he is not yet on the official roster.
The Pie Social will also include Old Dixie’s Food Truck, music by Phoenix musician Tobie Milford and a croquet competition with a $5 buy-in. A percentage of the proceeds will go to the Phoenix Union Bioscience High School art programs.
Because of city health codes, none of the pies will have meat or dairy.
The event is set up with a system of vouchers, aptly called tasting tickets. For $10 an attendee can taste whichever five pies they want, and more tasting tickets can be purchased. Dach assures that attendees won’t leave on an empty stomach.
“I would even advise showing up on an empty stomach,” Dach said. “We are going to have a lot of really cool pies out there for the competition.”
Community members are also allowed to participate in the baking frenzy, so long as they abide by the rules. Community bakers receive five tasting tickets if they show up to the social with two pies.
The social will include 10 independent arts and crafts and vintage pop-up shops during the course of the day.
Treehouse Bakery is approaching the competition from a unique angle, abstaining from using any animal products.
“I like the challenge of cooking vegan,” said Amanda Sizemore, co-founder and baker at Treehouse. “I think it’s a little harder and it’s more fun for me.”
While Amanda and Corianne Sizemore are not vegan when they are at home, the sisters agree ingredients such as milk, eggs and butter can be easily — and tastefully — replaced.
“To be honest, I don’t even really like milk or butter,” Corianne said. “I can easily make a flax seed mix for an egg substitute. It tastes just as good.”
Treehouse Bakery opened in 2010, and although the Sizemores do not have formal training in a kitchen setting, they have years of baking at home under their belts.
“My favorite thing to bake is cupcakes, probably,” Amanda Sizemore said. “We were actually asked to be on Cupcake Wars, but we had to decline.”
While having pride in their bakery, the Sizemores try to stay humble, keeping up with odd jobs and lighthearted events. One prominent event being a production for the Vagina Monologues, where Treehouse Bakery was asked to make themed cupcakes for the event.
“We had an order come in from the group that was putting on a production for them, and they wanted about 30 cupcakes in the shape of the female anatomy,” Corianne Sizemore said.
“We love doing odd jobs like that,” Amanda Sizemore said. “It lets us be even more creative with our baking.”
The social runs from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. Saturday. Parking is available on First and Second streets as well as at the Phoenix Center for the Arts on Third and Moreland streets.
Contact the reporter at dvalente@asu.edu
