Over 10,000 attend Maine Whoopie Pie Festival
DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Center Theatre and the Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce announced that over 10,000 people attended the 2025 Maine Whoopie Pie Festival at the Piscataquis Valley Fairgrounds on June 14. The event, already the largest single-day event in the county, grew tremendously in 2025.
Festival organizer Patrick Myers, executive director of the Center Theatre for the Performing Arts, thinks many factors contributed to the growth this year. “We moved the Festival earlier in the year, so it really is one of the first big summer events,” he said. We were also very lucky that after a dozen or more weeks of rainy Saturdays, the weather was perfect.”
Myers also thinks the new location at the Piscataquis Valley Fairgrounds contributed to the record-breaking turnout, “With all the space at the fairgrounds, I think people knew it would be easier to walk around and see all the bakers, vendors and entertainment.”
YOUTH WHOOPIE PIE EATING CONTEST — Entrants in the youth eating contest at the 2025 Maine Whoopie Pie Festival at the Piscataquis Valley Fairgrounds in Dover-Foxcroft race to eat three of the mini treats the fastest during the June 14 event. A record 10,000-plus attendees passed through the gates this year, with the Festival being moved from downtown to the fairgrounds.
There were also growing pains as attendance jumped from 6,000 in 2024 to over 10,000. The increased attendance led to shortages of tokens going out to attendees to get samples from the bakers. “We thought we had enough for 8,000 people, but got overwhelmed,” Myers stated.
Festival staff had to go to a local hardware store and buy 2,000 large metal washers as backup tokens to compensate.
The more serious issue was long traffic jams around Dover-Foxcroft as people tried to get to the Festival. There were reports of cars backed up a mile or more at various times. Myers said there will be meetings with emergency services to plan for 2026.
AND THE WINNER IS … — Twelve-year-old Ethella Dill of Lincoln raises her hand as the first youth whoopie pie eating entrant to consume three mini whoopie pies on June 14 in Dover-Foxcroft. Dill ate the three in 62 seconds.
“We definitely needed more people parking cars to get them in off the street faster,” he said. Myers thinks there will also be assigned routes next year for Festival traffic to leave corridors for emergency services to respond.
However, the new location at the fairgrounds was able to accommodate the crowd and the layout of the Festival allowed them easy access to bakers and vendors. The Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce, led by Denise Buzzelli, organized the vendors and food trucks. Many people were heard commenting on how well suited the fairgrounds were for the event and how well the vendors and other areas were organized.
Along with record-setting attendance there was also a record number of bakers and whoopie pies. Myers estimates that the 30 bakers in attendance brought over 50,000 whoopie pies to the event. With lead sponsor Shaw’s Supermarket bringing over 4,000 on their own. Most of the whoopie pies were eaten as samples at the festival or taken home with attendees.
DO I HAVE SOMETHING ON MY FACE?— Levi Hicher of Lee downed four miniature whoopie pies in 42 seconds to win the teen whoopie pie eating contest on June 14 during the Maine Whoopie Pie Festival at the Piscataquis Valley Fairgrounds in Dover-Foxcroft.
Winning the coveted People’s Choice award, chosen by Festival attendees, was Husson University in Bangor who attended for the first time. They also won first place in the Allen Coffee Brandy People’s Choice award for their Allen’s wants S’Mores whoopie pie which also won the Allen’s Coffee Brandy prize as decided by the Festival judges.
Taking first place in the Best Traditional Whoopie Pie contest was Honey and Lace bakery in Sedgwick. Best Flavored Whoopie Pie was won by Katherine’s Bakery and Café in Norway for their Apple Pie Whoopie. Katherine’s also won the contest for the most creative whoopie pie name for ‘My Golly, Miss Moxie.”
The Best New Baker at the festival was Freshies from Hampden with their Campfire Smore Whoopie. Elaine’s Bakery in Milo won the Healthy Whoopie Prize for their Fat Free Yogi Health Nut. The Yankee Whoopie Prize was won by Valley View Orchard Pies in Oxford for their Maine Blueberry Pancake.
ADULT CHAMPION — Justin Cox of Eddington is the 2025 Maine Whoopie Pie Festival adult division eating champion, as he scarfed down six miniature whoopie pies in 42 seconds.
Winning the Festival’s three eating contests were 12-year-old Ethella Dill from Lincoln (youth category) who consumed three mini whoopie pies in 62 seconds; Levi Hincher from Lee (teen) who downed four in 42 seconds; and Justin Cox from Eddington (adult) who scarfed down six in 40 seconds.
Full contest results are available at www.MaineWhoopiePieFestival.com.
The organizers of the Festival have also announced that the date for the 2026 Maine Whoopie Pie Festival will be June 20, 2026. Registration for bakers and vendors will open in January. The Festival is the largest annual fundraiser for the Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce and the Center Theatre for the Performing Arts and supports the Theatre’s mission to engage and inspire by making art, education and entertainment accessible to our rural communities.
HOMETOWN HERO — Little Joey Nails — Joseph Nelson of Dover-Foxcroft as he is known away from the squared circle — gets the crowd fired up prior to the being in the tag team match as the main event of a Let’s Wrestle Limitless Wrestling show at the Maine Whoopie Festival on June 14. Grapplers from the Brewer-based company competed in the ring and entertained the crowd of spectators at the Piscataquis Valley Fairgrounds.
FATHER-SON — Little Joey Nails (Nelson) of Dover-Foxcroft looks to get his boot away during a tag team match with Eric Johnson vs. the duo of Counter Strike to close out a Let’s Wrestle Limitless Wrestling show at the Maine Whoopie Pie Festival. Officiating the match is Nelson’s father Toby, who in his day job is chief communications officer at Foxcroft Academy.