Pie-baking contest win a special moment for Warwick woman

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When it comes to baking apple pies – or eating them, for that matter – no one does it better than Warwick residents Jo-Ann Desmarais or Hope Valloney.

Those two facts surfaced last weekend after the North Central Chamber of Commerce’s 27th annual Apple Festival pie-baking and pie-eating contests, which held inside jam-packed Johnston War Memorial Park.

For Desmarais, Saturday’s triumph – which came after placing second or third in 11 of the past 13 years and – was showered with cheers from a huge crowed of people who packed almost every available viewing spaced around the park’s main stage, where a team of judges tasted and sampled seven different entries.

Desmarias’ long-awaited victory was also emotional and filled with tears, as she received hugs from her granddaughter Madison Holyroyd and well-wishes from everyone including chief celebrity judge and famed chef Frank Terranova of NBC 10.

It was Terranova, in fact, who set off a heart-warming celebration for the Warwick woman who was mobbed by Apple Festival committee members, other bakers and even from the event sponsoring Washington Trust Company.

“I wish my husband could have been here,” Desmarais said. “He was always here, rooting me on, but he passed away last year.”

Although Desmarias was a runner-up in 10 of the last 13 years – and she placed third once – it was never truly about winning.

“We always do it for the fun,” she said. “I never worry about anything, especially when it comes to baking apple pies. But today, when Chef Terranova announced my name as the winner, I said no way – and cried. I couldn’t help but think about my late husband.”

Even while Terranova announced that the third-place prize went to Brenda Acciardo of Johnson and that Michaela Marinean of Cranston won second-place honors, Desmarais’ son Billy kept saying, “C’mon mom, you gotta win.”

Almost as soon as Terranova proclaimed Desmarais as the 2014 pie-baking champion, people in the crowd who had been to the Apple Festival in years past let out a huge roar of approval.

When asked about her now award-winning recipe, Desmarais revealed that her crust was made from pasta frolla – an Italian recipe with sugar and made with butter instead of Crisco.

“I also used a handful of coconut this year for my pie crust,” she said. “Then, it’s just a regular apple pie with sugar, cinnamon and again a little bit of butter, flour, and I even threw in another little bit of coconut.”

Once the excitement of her victory subsided, Billy asked: “What kind of pie are you going to bake next year?”

“I’m not,” Desmarais replied. “I can’t enter the contest. I’m going to be a guest judge.”

Valloney, meanwhile, didn’t come to Johnston War Memorial Park Sunday to enter the pie-eating contest. She accompanied a host of volunteers from the award-winning Haunted Labyrinth, which for the last 30 years has been a fixture at the Rejoice in Hope Youth center – a.k.a. CYO Center – at 804 Dyer Ave. in Cranston.

However, there were only a few entries in the pie-eating competition for people ages 18 and over, and Apple Festival officials kept announcing they needed more entries. Thus, Valloney – who lives in Warwick and teaches preschool in Lincoln – got a little prompting from her colleagues and entered.

She emerged victorious by eating a large apple pie – with no hands, and only a break to take sips of water – faster than any of the other adults.

“This was a lot of fun,” said Valloney, who is a native of Portsmouth. “The pie was pretty good, too!”

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