Knott’s Boysenberry Festival is a slice of history
Contrary to popular belief, the object of a pie-eating contest is not to eat pie. At Knott’s Berry Farm’s famed boysenberry pie-eating contest anyway, the rules are a little different.
“The challenge isn’t to eat it,” said contest participant Everett Heninger, 15, of Costa Mesa. “It is to get it as empty as possible.”
That means removing as much pie from the tin without using your hands.
“The person who gets the messiest,” the overall-clad judge, “Phineas B. Berry,” boomed, “will probably win!”
The Knott’s Berry Farm pie-eating contest is a staple of the annual Boysenberry Festival, which is happening in Buena Park now through April 26.
Walter Knott and his wife, Cordelia, farmed the hybrid boysenberry, a strain of blackberry, red raspberry and loganberry named for creator Rudolph Boysen in the mid-1920s. The family sold berries, preserves and pies at their Buena Park roadside stand. Later in the 1930s, fried-chicken dinners were served in their tea room, which became Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant.
The Knott’s family hasn’t been associated with the park since Cedar Fair became the owner and operator in 1997, and today the park is better known for its thrill rides and rollercoasters. GhostRider, for example, is the West Coast’s tallest and longest wooden coaster, and Xcelerator, the tallest coaster at Knotts, accelerates riders from 0 to 82 mph in 2.3 seconds. Yet, the berry that started it all is still honored annually at the Boysenberry Festival.
On March 19, Heninger and five other contestants signed waivers and suited up in plastic ponchos for a shot at bragging rights and a whole boysenberry pie.
Besides the boysenberry pie found at Mrs. Knott’s Restaurant and through out the park, special dishes with a boysenberry twist are available during the festival, like beef meatballs in a boysenberry barbecue sauce on mash potatoes or mini crab sushi roll with boysenberry aioli. Boysenberry beverages are plentiful too, like boysenberry sangria, boysenberry wine and boysenberry seltzer. Guests can purchase a tasting card good for six tastings of their choice.
Special entertainment is also part of the festival, including an exhibit on the history of the boysenberry on display at Ghost Town Hall and Old MacDonald’s Farm livery stable with horses and goats, which pays tribute to one of the farm’s original attractions. The boysenberry pie-eating contest happens daily on the Calico Mine Stage.
Heninger took home first prize and a boysenberry pie, a win he credits to his strategy.
“My strategy from the start, I was pretty confident would win,” Heninger said. “I just put one end of the pie in my mouth and flipped my head so it all fell out and then he said extra points if you get your face messy, so I just kind of rubbed my face in it.”
For tickets and information on Knott’s Berry Farm’s Boysenberry Festival visit knotts.com/events/boysenberry-festival.
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