Photo: Winner of Masker’s Pie eating contest David Reisner with his family.
New Jersey contestant becomes latest winner as Masker’s weekly contest builds toward a November showdown — and a seven-day Orlando vacation
By Kat Leslie
WARWICK, N.Y. — It started with an apple pie, a stopwatch and a simple challenge at a century-old Hudson Valley orchard.
Now the winners are beginning to cross state lines — and the prize waiting at the end could send one family all the way to Florida.
David, visiting from Wayne, New Jersey, became the latest victorious contestant in Masker Orchards’ weekly pie-eating competition, earning bragging rights, prizes and a place among the season’s winners as the Warwick orchard continues its unusual fall contest.
And while eating pie at an apple orchard might sound like a fairly low-stakes affair, this one has developed a rather substantial finish.
The season is building toward a final showdown in November, when the qualifying winners will compete for the grand prize: seven days of paid accommodations in a three-bedroom resort villa in the Orlando, Florida, area, next to the region’s major attractions.
In other words, eat fast enough in Warwick and you could end up vacationing in Orlando.
Dave Comes to Warwick, Leaves a Winner
Dave’s victory continues a contest launched this season as part of the expanded activities surrounding Masker’s bakery, where 99-year-old Warwick resident and longtime Warwick Valley Dispatch Post-Production Manager Evelyn Card has taken on another title: ambassador for the bakery and honorary hostess of the competition.
Card, who celebrated her 99th birthday in August and continues working at the Dispatch, has quickly become part of the personality surrounding the event.
The rules are refreshingly uncomplicated.
Eat the designated Masker’s apple pie. Eat it fast. Beat the competition.
And, most importantly, come prepared to sacrifice a certain amount of dignity in pursuit of victory.
This is speed eating, not fine dining.
Dave proved equal to the assignment, sending another weekly title — and the accompanying bragging rights — across the state line to Wayne, N.J.
But his victory also earns him something potentially much more valuable: a shot at November’s championship.
Dispatch Sweetens the Pie
The Warwick Valley Dispatch has now decided that if people are willing to put their reputations — and possibly their shirts — on the line for apple-pie glory, the newspaper ought to contribute something as well.
So the Dispatch is adding a complimentary one-year subscription for each winning contestant.
The newspaper also plans to feature a weekly photograph of the newest winner, creating a season-long gallery of pie-eating champions leading toward the November finale.
Call it the Masker’s Wall of Fame.
Or perhaps the Wall of Filling.
Either way, by November there should be a formidable collection of people who can say they came to Warwick for apples and left with evidence of what happened when somebody handed them a pie and started a clock.
And Then There Is Florida
The grand prize changes the equation considerably.
The eventual champion will receive seven days of accommodations in a three-bedroom villa at an Orlando-area resort, putting the winner within reach of Walt Disney World and the region’s other major attractions.
That creates a possibility we can’t resist suggesting:
Thanksgiving family reunion in Florida?
Imagine explaining that one around the holiday table.
“So, how did you guys afford the Orlando villa?”
“Grandpa ate a pie faster than everybody else in Warwick.”
There are worse family legends.
The three-bedroom accommodation also makes the prize particularly suited to a family trip rather than simply a getaway for one contestant.
Disney for Thanksgiving, anyone?
Compliments of Masker’s — provided somebody in the family can eat.
Not All the Competition Is Grown-Up
And the adults aren’t having all the fun.
Masker’s has added a junior round for contestants under 12, giving the orchard’s youngest pie eaters a chance to compete for something almost as important as a Florida vacation: bragging rights.
The junior champion also takes home a full-size 10-inch Masker’s apple pie — the orchard’s signature high-top pie that was crowned Best Apple Pie in the Valley.
Last weekend, that honor belonged to Liam, who finished ahead of the field to claim the junior title and his considerably larger-than-junior prize.
When you’re under 12, beating everybody else to the finish and carrying home a 10-inch championship apple pie is pretty close to winning the Super Bowl.
And somewhere in the audience, the adults competing for Florida might want to pay attention.
Today’s junior champion could be tomorrow’s problem.
From Apple Picking to a Fall Tradition
The contest is unfolding against the backdrop of Masker’s regular fall season. The Warwick Mountain orchard remains open seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., through early November, according to its current website. Visitors can drive directly into the orchard and park near the trees, bringing family and picnic supplies with them.
That makes the pie contest a somewhat fitting addition to an operation that has welcomed families for more than a century.
You can pick the apples.
You can buy the pie.
And now, apparently, you can eat one competitively and try to win a Florida vacation.
Masker’s Country Store also sells its orchard products and baked goods, including whole apple pies and apple cider doughnuts during the season.
Think You Can Beat Dave?
Future contestants are encouraged to check Masker’s social-media channels and website for contest announcements and advance registration information. The orchard’s official site also carries current picking information, hours and seasonal updates: https://www.maskers.com/
Weekly winners will continue accumulating until the November championship, when somebody will finally earn the title — and the trip.
For now, the latest bragging rights belong in Wayne.
Congratulations, David.
Enjoy the victory. Enjoy the Dispatch subscription.
And perhaps start thinking about whom you’d put in those other two bedrooms.
Because somewhere between Warwick Mountain and Orlando, an innocent apple-pie contest has acquired considerably higher stakes.
A week in Florida is now sitting at the finish line.
And you never know.
The next person heading to Disney World may first have to go through Grandma Ev — and a Masker’s apple pie, voted “Best in Hudson Valley” in 2025.
