Pie Town Council, residents reconcile their differences

By Lif Strand

El Defensor Chieftain

lstrand@dchieftain.com

   A meeting between Pie Town Council members and area residents, predicted by some to be a showdown, was instead a showing of how a community can work together to solve problems.

   Nearly 20 local residents and council members attended the meeting. Charlotte Choate spoke on behalf of the area residents since Vera Davis, who had requested the meeting, was unable to attend. Nita Larronde spoke on behalf of the council members.

   At issue was the format for September's 2003 Pie Festival and the council's management of the Pie Town Community Center.

   "Some people weren't happy with the Pie Town Festival," Choate said. "There was no fiddler's contest, no barbecue. People want to be involved."

   Mary Hudson, who helped Davis organize the meeting, agreed that people who had attended many festivals in the past had complained to Davis about this year's event.

   "People were adamant they would not come back next year," Hudson said, adding that Davis felt that the problem was that the community's interests in the event were not taken into account. "Vera wants the community to get together."

   Larronde pointed out that in the beginning years of the Festival, there were no fiddlers or barbecue. "As people came on and added energy, we had those things," she said. "But people get burned out."

   Choate pointed out that her husband, Rufus, who is Catron County District 1 commissioner, and friends had put on the barbecue for many years, but now the barbecue pit was filled in.

   "There is no barbecue pit any more," she said. "We never went to the Pie Town meetings, but Rufus would come and do the barbecue.

   "When others did it, it wasn't as good as when you did it," Larronde said. "It's just a matter of digging it out. Would you volunteer again?"

   Choate volunteered both herself and her husband to take on the job again next year.

   Putting together the barbecue involves everything from preparing the pit to cooking to serving. Quite a few people are needed to do this. The lack of volunteers prompted the Pie Town Council to change the venue and have food vendors, instead of the traditional barbecue, for the 2003 Pie Festival.

   Peggy Rawl, of the Daily Pie Restaurant in Pie Town, brought up the issue of focus for the Pie Festival. "What is the goal of the festival," she asked. "Is it an annual reunion or is it to pull in tourists? If we had more events would we have more people to manage them?"

   "The barbecue was the primary thing that started the festival," Rufus Choate said. "It was a two day affair getting the barbecue ready. It wasn't a money-making deal, it was for people to get together, a community event."

   Council president Monika Helbling reminded the group that lack of community involvement and lack of volunteers to work the Festival almost caused it to be cancelled. A number of frantic late-spring meetings, with very few people promising to stick it out for the long haul, was all that allowed the September 2003 event to go on for the 23rd year.

   "One thing needs to be made clear," Helbling said. "I got a frantic call in March saying that there would be no Pie Town Festival because no one was interested in working on it."

   The discussion centered on how to achieve more community involvement, in particular that of the long-time residents of the Pie Town area.

   In addition to festival activities, there is a Pie Town Web site, but at this time no one maintains it.

   "We don't want to pay someone to do it every year," Larronde said. "We are waiting for someone to come up and volunteer."

   In an effort to make it easier for the community to get involved and attend meetings, the Pie Town Council has designated new meeting times. Previously there were no set times or locations for the council meetings. The Council has decided that they will now meet the last Wednesday of each month, at 6 p.m., at the Pie Town Community Center. There will, however, be no meetings in November or December. In January, the council will begin establishing committees for the 2004 Pie Festival.

   Another focal point of the meeting was how the Pie Town Council was maintaining the Pie Town Community Center.

   Residents felt that the center would be see more use if the center was regularly maintained, such as keeping the kitchen was stocked with supplies and serving spoons since Pie Town does not have a store where these things could be readily purchased.

   Cyndi Lee pointed out that there have been a number of times when the people attending a local person's funeral have all been from out of town. Pie Town does not have a store where supplies for a funeral could be purchased and people coming to the funeral don't think to bring what they will need.

   "I feel we need the kitchen stocked and the trash taken out," she said. "More families would be using it. The last two funerals we had, we had to scramble to find plates and silverware," Lee said. "Someone needs to be a contact."

   "The last two funerals, no one in the council was notified," Helbling said. "Is it unreasonable to ask that council members be called?"

   "The council should not be hosts for funerals," Choate said. "The council should just make sure the community center is clean and the kitchen stocked with paper products and serving spoons."

   "Read the Pie Town Council's by-laws," Helbling said. "The Pie Festival and funerals are not a function of the by-laws."

   The Pie Town Council's job, as per those by-laws, is solely to maintain the Pie Town Community Center.

   "We report twice a year to the Catron County Commissioners," Lee said. "The intent was a working relationship with the county. It was an exchange -- we'll do the labor and fund the community center if the county will fund the park."

   "It is a misconception that the council should organize anything," Helbling said. "Anyone in the community can use the center, just check to see if it is pre-booked."

   "It's a community center," Helbling said. "The emphasis is on community."

   "The conclusion is that everyone has to be more involved," Charlotte Choate said. "We want to help make the Pie Festival more like a reunion like it used to be."

   "When I first moved here I was given the black box (the secretary's box) and nobody came to another meeting again," Larronde said. "But I like Pie Town. If I can help, I will."

   "I'm glad to see some of the old timers here," she said, looking around the room. "People say they've done their part and they're done. But everyone is trying. It's not the council, it's not you or me, it's us."