Pies, Profit, and Pandemonium

Silver City’s Most Delicious Auction Returns

On the evening of Friday, March 14th, at precisely 5:30 p.m., the citizens of Silver City—those with good taste and those with merely large appetites—will assemble at the historic Silver City Schoolhouse at 385 High Street to engage in a spectacle that combines high-stakes gambling, culinary mastery, and the noble art of charitable giving. For the fifth consecutive year, the Silver City Preservation Society, a group dedicated to preserving civilization in this remote outpost, will host its Annual Pi Day Pie Auction.

For those unfamiliar with Pi Day, get enlightened. Pi (π) is that mysterious and interminable number, beginning with 3.14 and meandering into infinity, much like an old-timer telling a story with no apparent end. It is a mathematical curiosity for the higher purpose of celebrating that most perfect of foods—the pie.

At this event, dozens of pies—sweet and savory, large and small, round and–well– round—shall be auctioned. The finest bakers of the Comstock have been laboring day and night to produce these marvels of flour, butter, and ingenuity. Those who know the Comstock know this–there are bakers in these parts who could make even a hardened prospector weep for joy at the mere scent of their crusts.

It is not some dreary, dignified affair where people whisper their bids in hushed tones—oh, no! It is a live auction, where the strong of heart and deep of pocket go head-to-head in a battle for supremacy, waving their hands and hard-earned dollars in the air with reckless abandon.

It is a contest of wit, will, and appetite, and it moves with the speed of a riverboat poker game about to be broken up by the authorities. Within two hours, the pies are gone, the money raised, and the town left in sleepy satisfaction.

All proceeds from this noble exercise in indulgence go to the Silver City Preservation Society, a fine institution that maintains the old schoolhouse, fosters community planning, operates a volunteer library, and brings forth a variety of cultural, educational, and artistic endeavors, all aimed at keeping Silver City from sliding back into the wilderness. So, Bring your wallets, appetites, and best poker face because bidding will be fierce, fortunes will be made and lost, and waistlines will vary.

Bid high, bid often, and—beware of that one pie that always goes for an outrageous sum. It is said to possess near-mystical properties or an ungodly amount of butter.