Defending champion Alek Read, right, devours against the clock to stay ahead of last years’s 2nd place winner Kurt Gross in Patterson’s annual Apricot Fiesta Pie Eating contest on Sunday, June 3, 2012.
Photo by Lisa James/ Patterson Irrigator
The two pastimes merged for the Apricot Pie-Eating Contest in front of the fiesta’s main stage Sunday, June 3, as a crowd of dozens squeezed elbow to elbow in nearly 90-degree heat.
In the end, Alek Read, 13, gobbled his way to a second consecutive Apricot Pie-Eating Championship. The local teenager devoured the apricot filling and crust to win the fiesta’s fifth annual pie-eating event, as fiestagoers crowded around to take photos and cheer for participants.
Sunday marked the fourth time Read had competed in the fiesta’s fruit-filled spectacle. He won second-place honors at age 8.
The day proved bittersweet for another local competitor, Kurt Gross. For a second straight year, he wound up a few bites short of the title as runner-up to the same rival.
During the contest, competitors were required to abide by one rule: to keep their hands behind their backs at all times, or be disqualified.
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