BERRIEN SPRINGS — Buchanan’s Sandy Vorrath is the winner of the Berrien County Youth Fair’s 18th Annual Fruit Pie Contest.

Sandy Vorrath

Vorrath’s apple praline pie was named the best pie in the adult division Saturday in the USA Agriculture Expo building.

Vorrath said it is the third time her pie has won the adult division.

“It’s my hat trick,” said Vorrath, who’s been entering pies since the contest started.

“The first five years I got spanked by the older ladies really bad. They actually kind of taught me what to do. One lady told me she’d been baking two pies a week for 40 years.”

Vorrath said the pie is her mother’s recipe for apple pie.

“I just tweaked it a little bit. I added the praline recipe to go on top,” she said.

Pie making apparently runs in the family. Vorrath’s daughters Jill, 19, and Maddy, 17, both placed in the top five in the youth category. Jill, a 2011 graduate of Buchanan High School, placed fourth, while Maddy, a Buchanan High senior, took third.

“My daughters and I have been doing this since they’ve been old enough to do it, so it’s a lot of fun,” Vorrath said.

Pie Contest Results

Most Eye Appealing — Joyel Timmreck

Adult — 1. Sandy Vorrath, 2. Mary Beth Good, 3. Shelley Zeiger, 4. Joyel Timmreck, 5. Mari Krebs.

Youth — 1. Adrianne Barber, 2. Elise Barber, 3. Maddy Vorrath, 4. Jill Vorrath, 5. Marcy Binns.