31-07-2025
How hundreds of volunteer bakers make Braham's Pie Day happen every year
This Friday, the town of Braham, Minnesota, will reach a milestone as it celebrates its 35th "Pie Day." It's always the first Friday in August.
With its colorful hanging baskets and its 100-year-old gazebo, Braham is as American as apple pie. If you need more proof, you'll find it on every street corner.
In 1990, as part of a "Celebrate Minnesota" campaign, Gov. Rudy Perpich enjoyed pie at the Park Cafe on Main Street. He liked it so much that he declared Braham the "Homemade Pie Capital of Minnesota," a proclamation they did not take lightly.
"The first year, they still had the churches and church ladies come together and kind of put the pies together. After that, it just took off and it's continued to grow," said Tish Carlson.
Thirty-five years later, 300 volunteers bake nearly 700 pies for the festival. The Park Cafe adds another 314 pies because 3.14 is pi.
The recipe for getting this done is people of all ages meeting up at the high school.
They first make dough pucks while wearing their pie shirts and pie earrings.
"I have lemon pie. Mixed berry pie. Strawberry pie," said Dixie Erickson while showing off the pies painted on her fingernails.
Ninety-four-year-old Dorothy Ronning has made thousands of these over the years and has no intention of stopping.
From mixing to weighing to rolling, everyone gets a piece of the pie.
"They will do this until the last dough is rolled out," said Melinda LaQuier, chief lead Pie Day baker.
Pie Day preparation is year-round, but creating these desserts really begins two weeks before the big day. This year, they'll make 15 different varieties.
"And our biggest one is called the Brahamberry pie. Which is raspberry, strawberry, blueberry and rhubarb," said Carlson.
"This is what we call our apple cow pie. It's apple and caramel and it's very popular," said LaQuier.
Carlson is the director, but she's also the former mayor. She said organizing this festival is more work than running for office.
"You have a pie-eating contest, pie sales, pie auction, pie baking contest," said Carlson.
But it's worth it. As many as 5,000 people from across the country come to Braham for this. Not bad for a festival that once began in a church basement.
"It's the heritage that's here and the community. It's like a big hug. It really is," said Carlson.
Years ago, the Braham school district even changed its number to District 314 in honor of Pie Day. General Mills donates all the flour in memory of Mark Erickson, a Braham man who worked at the company and unexpectedly passed away.
