MANSFIELD — Ilena Porter isn’t giving away all of her secrets.

When asked what the secret to a good pie is, the grand champion baker Ilena Porter said, “It’s the crust, but I can’t tell the secret of what I do with the crust.”

Porter’s show-stopping raspberry pie stole the attention of the judges and their tastebuds at the Richland County Fair pie auction on Wednesday. 

For the grand champion, the winning recipe started with a google search. After finding the recipe, Porter put her own work into it, specifically the crust, turning it into an award-winning pie.

This competition included different divisions of pie flavors including apple, peach, cherry, blueberry and raspberry. The pies are judged on general appearance, flavor, texture of crust and texture of filling.

This year’s judges included Richland County Commissioner Tony Vero, Mansfield Fire Department Assistant Chief Troy Reed, Richland County EMA Director Sarah Potts, Richland County Coroner’s Office Investigator Bob Ball and Scott Smith, senior fair board director.

Kathy Mills has been running the pie auction for over 22 years now.

She said this year’s 89 entries represented roughly a 40% increase over the typical number of pies submitted in previous years.

“Pie baking is a skill that has gone by the wayside, but I’m seeing a rebirth—young people and parents are getting involved again, and that’s exactly what we need,” she said.

Once judging was complete, the pies moved from the competition tables to the auction, where attendees gathered to bid on the entries. The smell of freshly-baked pies filled the Arts and Crafts Building, with some still warm as they sat on the auction table. Conversation and competing bids filled the room as each pie was brought up for sale.

Porter’s Grand Champion raspberry pie sold for $90, with half of the proceeds going back to Porter and the other half going to the Richland County Fair Board to support the Arts and Crafts Building, where the auction is held.

While Porter took home the Grand Champion title, several other bakers earned blue ribbons for their entries across the ten categories. Among this year’s blue ribbon winners was Tim Dennis, who is no stranger to the winner’s circle, having previously Grand Champion title the previous two years. Alongside Dennis, other blue ribbon winners this year included Ashley Bowman, Hannah Thompson, Heather Smith, Traci Fellows, Gail Adams and Jaxon Hickinbotham.

For Porter, that tradition ended with a Grand Champion title, a $90 auction sale and one closely guarded secret: whatever she does to make her crust so good.

All photos by Brooke Badgley.