Calling all pie connoisseurs to the first annual Live Pie Auction fundraiser during Homesteader Days Saturday.

“If they like homemade pie, this is a good chance to get one,” said baker Ruby Hopkin.

Don’t be late. The pies will likely sell, well, like hot cakes.

At 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Travis Swenson will auction the delicious homemade pies to raise money to support renovations for the Tool Barn behind the main museum.

Don’t forget — Homesteader Days begins at 8 a.m. with a walking tour.

Homesteader Days’ silent pie auction last year was very successful, so it was decided to make it a live auction this year, said Rowene Weems, director/curator of the Homesteader Museum.

The museum and friends procured classic pie plates that will be included with the pie bidders, Weems said. They’re nice pans. Some are Pyrex, while others are steel.

Weems has been working on a Homesteader Museum cookbook; locals’ pie recipes and baking anecdotes would be a great addition.

Weems asked those who are planning to bake one or more pies for the auction, but haven’t notified the museum, to please do so immediately by calling Homesteader Museum at 754-9481.

Amy McKinney, who teaches history at Northwest College, has a history of baking pies, thanks to family recipes.

McKinney saw Homesteader’s pie request on Facebook and decided she’d bake two or, perhaps three, she said.

Her aunt, Cheryl Rasmussen, formerly of Fromberg, Montana, (now Columbus, Montana) had apple trees and a plethora of dessert recipes with apples as the culinary linchpin, McKinney said. That included apple crisps, turnovers and, of course, pies. “Any kind of apple dessert,” she said.

“I think my aunt’s apple pie recipe is the best I’ve ever had, but I’m a little biased,” McKinney said. “Same as my grandma’s rhubarb pie.”

That’s right, rhubarb.

McKinney’s grandmother, Jean McKinney, also of Culbertson, had a recipe for rhubarb pies.

A rhubarb pie will be on the auctioneer’s list, if McKinney can find some fresh rhubarb, she said. “My neighbors might help me out.”

Grandmother Iona Rasmussen, of Culbertson, baked pies for family birthdays. Grandma Iona prepared lemon meringue pie for McKinney’s mother, Karen McKinney, she said.

Lemon meringue is one of Saturday’s pies du jour, folks.

“I’m going to make a lemon meringue and coconut cream,” Hopkin said.

Hopkin’s husband, Burchell, squeezes lemons and grates zest (peels) for her lemon meringue pie, she said.

Ruth Pfaff is baking a lemon meringue from her mother, Mary Blackburn’s recipe, she said.

It is incumbent on chocoholics to bring some cash, too.

McKinney said she has a chocolate pie recipe as well.

Annals of pie

Hopkin’s pie recipes weren’t necessarily handed down from mother to daughter.

“It’s just something I kind of grew up with,” Hopkin said.

Simply put, they’re instructions in country living.

Pfaff’s parents, Mary and Chester Blackburn, homesteaded the Heart Mountain area in 1947.

“I was 12 years old when I came and grew up on Heart Mountain,” she said.

Her mother baked cinnamon rolls — “real cream on them” — for the kids when they hopped off the bus after school, Pfaff said.

At Heart Mountain, the Blackburns used a kerosene stove with three burners. The oven had to be placed on top of the stove for baking, Pfaff said.

The latest generation should volunteer at the museum or Homesteader Days to get a taste of their ancestors’ lives, Pfaff said.

“We need especially the young people, because they have no clue how we lived,” she said.

Why pie?

The rationale for the pie auction is to raise money for the Homesteader Museum. The enticement is as indisputable as a sweet tooth. “People love pies,” Weems said.

“The Homesteader’s such a great museum,” said McKinney. “I always like to help out the Homesteader. I think it will be a lot of fun.”

Taste buds should be primed for pies crafted by accomplished bakers, Hopkin said.

How good are these pies?

“You’ll just have to wait until Saturday and buy yourself a pie,” Hopkin said.

Homesteader Days is like a carnival for pioneer history buffs.

A collaboration between Homesteader Museum and Powell Valley Chamber of Commerce, the sixth annual event celebrates activities reminiscent of bygone days with steam engines, old-time demonstrations, kids’ activities, arts and food vendors.

Homesteader Days highlights include:

After Miss “V” are The Rewinders, a lively country-rock dance band. Together more than 10 years, The Rewinders reset the melodious clock with classic country and rock favorites.

Also performing will be The Travelers, a local fiddler group, entertaining in the museum.

Other activities include pony rides for families and kids, games, food vendors, farmers' market vegetables, fruits, jams, locally created crafts and a silent auction.