A pie supper is a social gathering where pies are

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

ed to raise money, often for a local school or fire department. Pie suppers are predominantly associated with

Ozark The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant porti ...

culture, and provided a major source of funding for many of the region's

one-room school One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

s in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At a traditional pie supper, women and girls would provide homemade pies to be auctioned, sometimes in boxes decorated with ruffles or bows. Along with the pie itself, the highest bidder won the privilege of sharing the pie with its maker, whose identity was concealed or known only to a handful of people. This added an element of suspense to the bidding, and pie suppers had strong

courtship Courtship is the period wherein some couples get to know each other prior to a possible marriage. Courtship traditionally may begin after a betrothal and may conclude with the celebration of marriage. A courtship may be an informal and private m ...

elements, as boys vied to win the pies of the girls they favored. Pie suppers commonly included a "beauty cake" popularity contest. Several girls would be nominated to receive the cake, and their respective admirers would lobby for votes, which were typically priced at a penny each. A box supper was a less common variation where the boxes auctioned off contained a chicken dinner, cookies, or a collection of food intended to be a surprise. Ozark box suppers were roughly equivalent to the

box social Box social is a term for a social event that was widely used in the early 1900s with varying definitions in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. American usage In the U.S. state of Vermont the tradition is that women decorate a car ...

s held in other regions.

References

* Cantrell, Patty
"Pies and People"
Retrieved on 2009-04-19. * Gilmore, Robert K. (1990)
"Box and Pie Suppers"''Ozark Baptizings, Hangings, and other Diversions: Theatrical Folkways of Rural Missouri, 1885-1910''
University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 103–110. {{ISBN, 0-8061-2270-6. Retrieved on 2009-04-19.

External links

Missouri culture Arkansas culture Oklahoma culture Dating Dining events Contexts for auctions

See also

References

External links