Photo: Photo(L-R): Lisa Kevins, a Warwick Valley Rotary volunteer, Michael Martucci, Masker’s owner, and Evelyn Card, Orange County Citizen of The Month, Mary Doyle. (courtesy of The Warwick Valley Dispatch. Free for public use, reproduction and republication. No permission or photo credit required)
Orange County’s September Citizen of the Month becomes “Grandma Ev,” Masker’s new Apple Pie Ambassador — and presides over a new weekend pie-eating championship
By Kat Leslie
WARWICK, N.Y. — At 99 years young, Evelyn Card apparently wasn’t interested in slowing down.
So she took another job.
Card, the longtime Warwick resident recently honored by Orange County Executive Steven M. Neuhaus as Orange County’s Citizen of the Month for September, has been named a special ambassador for Masker Orchards in Warwick and the official face of its famed Grandma’s Apple Pie & Donut Shop.
Her new title?
Grandma Ev, – “Masker’s Orchard Ambassador & First Lady of the Apple Pie”
And if her first official assignment is any indication, this may be the sweetest job in Orange County.
Card recently presided over Masker’s inaugural Grandma Ev Apple Pie Eating Contest, where contestants faced off over one of the orchard’s towering 10-inch apple pies in a race involving speed, appetite, strategy — and absolutely no concern for maintaining one’s dignity.
The first winner of the 2026 season was Jasper of New York City, who earned something perhaps even more valuable than the prize package: bragging rights as the first person to conquer Grandma Ev’s pie challenge.
He didn’t exactly leave empty-handed, either.
The winner’s haul included a $100 Masker gift card good at the Country Store or Pub, a Masker T-shirt, a whole apple pie to take home, a dozen freshly made apple cider doughnuts, a gallon of Masker’s apple cider and recognition on Masker’s media channels.
And then there is the really big prize still waiting down the road.
Each weekend champions earns the right to return for Masker’s season-ending Grand Pie Championship, where the weekly winners will meet in a final showdown for a cash prize — and a seven-day family vacation with accommodations in a three-bedroom villa in the Orlando, Florida, Disney-area resort district, compliments of Masker Orchards.
Apparently, at Masker’s, eating apple pie may now qualify as a pathway to Florida, and no, not the village next door.
The Perfect Face for Grandma’s Corner
The appointment brings together two Warwick institutions with a combined history measured not in years, but generations.
For decades, Grandma’s Corner at Masker has been the place where families finish an afternoon of apple picking with the aromas that define fall in the Hudson Valley: apple pie, cinnamon, cider and fresh apple cider doughnuts.
The bakery itself has recently undergone a major technological overhaul while retaining the recipes and old-fashioned character behind it. At the center of the upgraded operation is a new high-capacity rotating oven capable of baking as many as 180 pies at once.
That increased capacity has helped turn what was once largely an orchard treat into an attraction of its own.
The centerpiece is Masker’s distinctive high-top, 10-inch apple pie, recently recognized with a Best in the Hudson Valley honor — a pie deliberately piled high with apples rather than flattened into the more familiar supermarket profile.
Masker’s owners wanted a person to represent the bakery who stood for the same things they believe the orchard itself represents: Warwick roots, tradition, family, authenticity and the willingness to keep working long after most people would have decided they’d earned a chair.
They didn’t have to look very far.
They chose Evelyn Card.
Meet “Grandma Ev”
Card turned 99 in August, but age has done remarkably little to diminish her schedule.
For more than two decades she has been part of the local newspaper operation, where she has learned virtually every aspect of producing the community’s newspaper and continues helping prepare thousands of copies for distribution each week.
Her community service extends much further back.
Beginning in the 1960s, Card played an integral role with Warwick’s nationally known Queens Village Queens Drum and Bugle Corps, helping an organization that gave hundreds of young women opportunities to develop discipline, confidence and teamwork.
Her lifetime of service led County Executive Steve Neuhaus to recognize her as Orange County’s Citizen of the Month for September 2026.
“This long-standing member of our community has helped to make Orange County the special place that it is,” Neuhaus said in announcing the honor. “Evelyn Card’s lifetime of empowerment and service has greatly benefited the Warwick and Orange County communities.”
Warwick Town Supervisor Jesse Dwyer described Card as embodying “the spirit of Warwick” through a life that has helped preserve the community’s stories, traditions and character.
That description could just as easily explain why Masker wanted her.
At an orchard whose history dates to 1913, having a 99-year-old Warwick resident welcome visitors isn’t a marketing gimmick. Between Evelyn and Masker, there is a personal connection, and enough Warwick history to fill a book — and Grandma Ev remembers a good portion of it firsthand.
Pie, Stories and a Little Warwick History
Grandma Ev’s role will extend beyond judging whether someone can make an apple pie disappear at an alarming rate.
On participating weekends, Card will host “Meet The Grandma” event, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., giving visitors an opportunity to sit down, say hello, take a photograph and hear stories about Warwick, its people, its apple-growing history and Masker Orchards, in particular.
For families visiting from New York City, northern New Jersey and throughout the Hudson Valley, the hour is intended to offer something increasingly difficult to manufacture at modern agritourism attractions: a connection with someone who actually lived the history being talked about.
Ask Grandma Ev about Warwick, its history, its people, apple orchards, and a legendary pie baked right on the farm, crowned Best Apple Pie of 2025.
Just make sure you have a little time.
The Kids Get Their Own Shot
Masker’s new pie-eating tradition isn’t limited to adults.
A separate Junior Pie Eating Contest is open to children under 12, giving younger visitors their own competition, their own champion and — perhaps most importantly — preventing a 9-year-old from having to go head-to-head with a 230-pound father who skipped breakfast specifically for the occasion.
The contests are designed to be funny, family-friendly and just competitive enough that losing may require a rematch the following weekend.
For Masker, that is the point.
The orchard has long built its identity around families spending a day in the country rather than simply buying a bag of apples. Visitors can drive their own cars into the orchard and park near the trees, picnic among more than 200 acres of apple country, visit the Country Store and Grandma’s bakery, and on weekends enjoy additional attractions and food.
Now they can add competitive apple-pie eating to the list.
A Bakery With History — And an Orchard With Even More
There is history almost everywhere visitors look at Masker.
The orchard traces its roots to Ora Masker and 1913, and more than a century later his name still hangs over the farm.
The orchard’s historic barn, built during the Civil War era and now home to the Masker Pub, contains another piece of that history: an approximately century-old farm sign, personally signed by Ora Masker, laying out the rules for drinking on the farm.
It is a wonderfully simple reminder that although apple picking has changed considerably over the past hundred years, apparently some farm rules have been necessary for quite a while.
That mixture of old and new is increasingly what defines Masker.
A Civil War-era barn and a state-of-the-art rotating bakery oven.
Apple trees and modern production equipment.
A farm founded in 1913 and a 99-year-old ambassador greeting children born in the 2020s.
And, occasionally, 180 apple pies in the oven.
Come for the Apples. Stay for Grandma Ev’s tales of Warwick’s Past
For Card, the title of “Grandma Ev” seems almost tailor-made.
Her work ethic has inspired generations of people around her. Her knowledge of Warwick comes from having lived its history rather than having read about it. And at 99, she continues showing up — at the newspaper, on the radio, in the community and now, on fall weekends, at Masker’s apple orchard.
There may be younger brand ambassadors.
There probably aren’t many with 99 years of experience.
And Masker couldn’t think of anyone better to put beside its most famous apple pie.
Grandma Ev’s advice to contestants?
Come hungry.
And don’t underestimate the pie.
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This is a developing story: Masker’s will soon unveil a brand-new sign above its beloved Grandma’s Corner bakery, officially giving the longtime orchard favorite a new name — Grandma Ev’s Corner & Bakery. It honors Warwick legend Evelyn “Grandma Ev” Card — 99 years young and now the official face of Masker’s award-winning bakery. A new name, a familiar corner, and the same award-winning pies and doughnuts generations have come to love. New sign is coming, the pies are hot, and Grandma Ev is ready. Stay tuned for the big unveiling!
