The sweet or savory deep fried darling of the Portland, Oregon, startup scene these days isn’t one of our traditional startups. Sure, it’s got a Twitter account. Yes, it’s a popular hangout for many of the usual gang in the Portland tech scene. And, of course, it gets most of its work done during #afterhours. But this startup? It makes pies.
Meet Whiffies, the food cart playing host to a very special pie eating contest tonight—Pie Champ 2.0—raising money for Free Geek, our awesome local geeky recycling center.
That’s right. What could be better than watching a bunch of geeks—like Aaron Hockley and Chris Snethen—stuff their face full of pies in hopes of becoming the Whiffies Pie Champ? How about engaging in gratuitous gluttony for a good cause—all thanks to OurPDX?
We have four hungry competitors lining up to see who can eat the most Whiffies pies in an hour (see backstory here.) And they’ve agreed to eat for a good cause! (No need to have that gluttonous energy produce nothing but a stomach ache when all is said and done, right?)[HTML3]
Which means you need to make your pledges NOW in order to give some pie love to Free Geek. (Bet a dollar amount per pie; donation will be figured by total number of pies eaten in an hour by all competitors; I’ll be your friendly neighborhood donation collector Sunday am via email/PayPal.)
I know. How cool is that?
So, turn your sleepy Saturday night into a pie-chomping extravaganza by showing up to the Whiffies cart at 9 PM this evening (June 6). And let’s just see if someone can smash Raven Zachary’s record of six pies in an hour. It’s all for a good cause.
And yes, the rumors are true. I am still among the uninitiated in terms of the Whiffies magic. Hostess fruit pies? I’ve got that down. But Whiffies? Not yet.
That may change tonight.
For more information, follow Whiffies on Twitter, see the Whiffies write-up in Food Carts Portland, or see the OurPDX posts on the contest backstory and the details for tonight.
(Image courtesy Dale Chumbley. Used under Creative Commons.)
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Betsy- Sorry, missed your reply until now….I just had whiffes for the first time and am researching my article for ThePortlander.
Anyway, as absolutely amazing as the pies are, I now realize I could never beat the 7 pie record! Oh my, after 1.5 pies, I am stuffed and coming down from the greatest sugar high!
Congrats to this years winner….7 is an amazing feat!
Jeff, we were coordinating last night’s Pie Champ event, so you just needed to let me know (or Gregg at Whiffies know) that you were interested. Or just show up – I think at least one of the contestants last night was a last-minute walk-up entry.
If you want to go solo just for the hell of it, you just have to let @whiffies know that you’re going to beat the record (currently at 7 whole pies plus 3 bites of an 8th), and follow these rules.
But we were able to harness gluttony for good: 400 dollars raised last night for Free Geek, woo-hoo!
How does one get in on the pie eating action? I bet I can take anyone in the portland tech community!