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Huckleberries will take a back seat to other fruits on Saturday evening at the Huckleberry Festival in Trout Creek. The pie eating contest commences at 7:30 p.m. at the main stage, and organizer Sarah Dramstad is hoping for an even bigger turnout than last year, when the contest had 43 entrants.

“It was so fun,” Dramstad said. “I wouldn’t have thought that pigging out would be that entertaining.” She noted that last year, Thompson Falls Superintendent Bill Cain challenged some of his students in the competition, and one toddler sat on her dad’s lap to eat pie. “It was so much fun,” she said.

Dramstad said the pies are donated by Minnie’s, Sanders County Harvest Foods and the Trout Creek Local Store. “They’d all like huckleberry pies,” she noted, “but that wouldn’t be pretty and it would be pretty expensive.”

All of the pies consumed in the competition are fruit or berry pies. She said that good old-fashioned apple is the most requested through the contest.

Dramstad hand painted sashes for the winners in each category. She said the competition grows every year and that cash prizes also will be awarded. Entry fees are $5 for adults and $2 for children, with half of the entry fees going back to the winners.