A Grape Adventure

I've long been fascinated by regional food specialties. Philadelphia has its cheesesteaks. Buffalo has its chicken wings, New Orleans has beignets, Maryland has crab cakes, Kentucky has bourbon...well, that's not a food, but you get the idea.

But perhaps one of the most unusual (and apparently one of the best-kept secrets) are Upstate New York's Grape Pies.

Yep, you heard me right. Grape pies.

I had never heard of them when I first moved to the region, and when I mentioned them to some out-of-state friends recently, they acted as if I had told them of some new exotic species roaming the woods nearby. That gave me the idea to seek out the best example of this regional specialty and report back here. You know...for science and stuff.

As it turns out, Upstate New York farmers grow two things really, REALLY well: Apples and Grapes. In the fall, you can't swing a stick without hitting a roadside stand that sells one or the other. Wineries are popping up in the Finger Lakes region with alarming regularity, and the regional winemakers long ago moved on from the sweet Concord grapes and cheap "jug wines" that used to characterize NY State wines as recently as a few decades ago.

But those sweet, delicious grapes still grow extremely well here, and they make a heckuva pie.

When I started asking the locals for their recommendation for the region's best grape pie, I expected to get all sorts of answers, ranging from the local diner to "my grandmother," but almost to a person, I got the same response everywhere I went:

"You need go to Naples, NY."

Naples is a town (and an adjacent village) that, like so many small towns Upstate, is tucked away amongst the hills in a valley cut by long-ago glacial activity. As of the 2010 census, the population of Naples was just over 2,500 (keep this in mind for later). Grapes were first planted there in the 1760's, and noted Finger Lakes producer Hazlitt Winery has a large production facility there. But what really puts Naples on the map is the annual Grape Festival, held annually since 1961.

They take their grapes seriously here (there's a purple theme going on everywhere), and the whole town gets in the spirit. With vendors selling all things purple and fruity, the faint but unmistakable smell of grapes permeates everything.

Yep. A purple ambulance...

...and a purple fire hydrant. 

For two days each September, Naples plays host to an estimated 60,000 people over a two-day period. That's for a town that normally holds 2,500, in a sleepy small town in Upstate NY that most people couldn't find without a map. It's pretty impressive. What's even more impressive is that they manage to pull it off without a hitch.

This is just a small section of the crowd, and on the second day

I arrived on Sunday morning, having been advised to show up early. Since I was traveling from the South, my guide told me to park near the Southern end of town and walk North to the central area where the "official" festival grounds are held. What I didn't know is that every business and home for nearly a two-mile stretch has a vendor or display out front; I walked the entire route and logged nearly five miles in the process.

And, as is usual in these parts, the people are fantastic. Despite the huge crowds, everyone I met was friendly, talkative, and patient with the sometimes-long lines and with each other. Oh, and this guy:

..but back to my purpose. My mission, if you will. Grape Pies. I had to seek out the best grape pie I could find.

Little did I know what I was up against.

If it can be made from a grape, it's available in Naples. I not only found grape pie, I found grape bread. Grape tarts. Grape cookies. Grape jellies, jams and preserves. Grape twizzler-style candy, Grape Popcorn and Grape flavored candied apples...even wine ice cream and (believe it or not) grape soap (I am not making that up).

To say I was overwhelmed was an understatement. Clearly this was more than I expected. So I started to look for things that had a story. Something interesting, something that stood out. I've been to a lot of festivals and shows, and thought I was pretty jaded (well, I am), but Naples really took me by surprise. Wherever I went, there was something new and interesting to see:

And aside from all the grapes, there were unique handcrafted items, some of which I'd never seen the likes of before (see the end of this post for more information).

Oil lamps made from Adirondack river rocks.

Original Mexican-style folk art

Wine country cork art

But, once again, getting back to the pies:

With so many choices, I knew I was going to have to narrow it down to a few that looked interesting or caught my eye in some way; as much as I like pie, I clearly wasn't going to be able to eat my way through Naples. As I struggled with this quandary, the following sign caught my eye:

That, I thought, was provocative. You just don't proclaim yourself to offer "Mom's Pies" without there being an actual "Mom" involved, and it seemed that the scale of an operation required to feed a potential 60,000 hungry visitors precluded that possibility. This had to be a marketing gimmick, and I had to find out.

As it turns out, I was...wr...wr...well, I can't bring myself to say the actual word, but let's just say I wasn't as right as I could have been. There IS a "Mom" at "Mom's Pies," and she turned out to be pretty awesome, along with the rest of her family.

That's Barb Haefele in the center, the "Mom" of "Mom's pies." It's a family operation, and her son tells me that they shipped in family members just for this festival to make her special pies from her own original recipe. In Barb's own words:

"These are homemade pies; my husband and I make them together. We hand roll out every single one ourselves...we make this crust in very small batches by hand, which is the only way you're going to get a nice crust, and we also do grape chocolate chip bars, which have become a big hit from people from all over. My whole family's here, my daughter from Arizona (and) West Virginia, so we're all here working together at the stand.  

"Every pie is touched by someone in the family, and this year, the grapes are just wonderful; perfect for our pies. And we only make our pies when the grapes are ripe, because if you do them before that you have to add a lot of sugar and we don't like to do that, so our pies, people tell us, taste like real grapes and not jam."

That's the kind of story I was looking for. The best part? They offered "curbside service", which meant that I could drive up on my way out of town, order a pie, and they'd bring it out to my car. With a lot of walking to do, this meant I didn't have to cart around a pie all over the festival. The best part? I didn't show up to retrieve my pie until almost an hour after I talked to Barb, and when I pulled up in my car, everyone remembered my name. Amazing. That's service!

Writing about everything I saw and did during the day would be beyond the scope of this blog; I have enough material for six or seven posts! I found some great handcrafted items, picked up a few gifts, and then prepared to leave. But I had one more stop to make.

Aside from mentioning Naples as a destination for grape pie, many of the people I spoke to had a more specific destination in mind: A place called "Monica's Pies".

Monica Schenk is known as the "Grape Pie Queen" in Upstate NY, and that's no small feat in a region known for that particular specialty. From her small shop just North of Naples, she bakes over 25 varieties of pies, along with jams, jellies and seasonal items, and has been doing so for over 30 years.

This was a destination I had to see for myself.

I really didn't know what to expect, but just two miles up the road from the bustle of the Grape Festival, I saw a cluster of cars surrounding a small nondescript store with a sign out front. I had arrived at the legendary "Monica's Pies."

It quickly became clear to me that there would be no time to talk, no in-depth interview, and no story to learn here. My biggest challenge was finding a parking spot; the lot was jam-packed (no pun intended). In addition to the store, there was a tent set up outside for hungry pie-lovers. There was a long line to get inside the actual store, but it moved quickly, and the staff was incredibly pleasant and helpful. People weren't just buying grape pies, either...I watched as a variety of, well, varieties flew off the shelf. What an operation. I left with a large grape pie, a coffee mug (I'm a sucker for coffee mugs), a brochure and a bar of grape soap. Where else are you going to find grape soap but in Naples?

So, I know what you want to know. Did I find the best grape pie in Upstate NY (and therefore, probably in the world?

shrug 

I have no idea. But I'll tell you this much: I can honestly say that a Grape Pie from Naples, NY is a little taste of heaven. I won't tell you what my favorite is; that would be blatantly unfair to the efforts of all the people mentioned here. What I will tell you is that this sleepy little burg deserves your attention, and if you ever find yourself in a position to visit, you need to get yourself a grape pie.

You won't be disappointed.


- Rich
  September 27, 2015


If you go (links open in a new window):

Naples NY: Official Website
Monica's Pies: Official Website
Mom's Pies:  Naples, NY (585) 374-2038
"Only One River": St. Lawrence River Rock Candles: onlyoneriver@yahoo.com
Folk Art: John Finnan Woodworker, Rushville, NY  finnanjjb@gmail.com

Pro tip: Show up early for the best parking opportunity, and wear comfortable shoes. There are a large number of vendors, so if you plan on doing a lot of shopping, bring a large bag, a small wagon, or a helper to carry your items. You probably won't want to make a lot of trips back and forth to your car. Parking is free if you can find a spot (they fill up fast); off-street parking is available in several places at a cost of $5, which is well worth the convenience.

There are food vendors galore, selling everything from regional specialties to barbecue, county fair fare, even oddities such as "Breakfast Pierogies." In addition, Naples has several fine restaurants, all of which are open all weekend.

The Elmira, NY Street Painting Festival

Elmira's 150th Year Logo

My adopted hometown of Elmira, NY has a long rich history. Once known as the "Queen City" in Upstate NY, it's celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. The town has its origins in the Revolutionary war; long a home of the Iroquois, Europeans settled here shortly after the war, and legend has it that the city was named after an unruly child in a local tavern. It's a somewhat gritty post-industrial town still struggling to recover from a devastating flood that all but destroyed its downtown business district some 40+ years ago.

It hardly seems like the obvious place for an arts festival, does it?

Well, it took a lot of foresight and a big leap of faith to create the "Elmira Street Painting Festival" in July, 2008. The first year brought artists, bands, arts and crafts and food vendors to a downtown that would, on a normal weekend, be all but deserted.

This photo from the 2014 Festival shows the heart of the downtown business district

The festival was not without its detractors or growing pains; the first year was marred by rain and cold weather, but luckily, artists and city leaders saw the potential, and now the event has become an annual signature event for Elmira.

Street painting has a similar long, rich history. From the Elmira Street Painting Festival website:

Street painting, also commonly known as street art, is the activity of rendering artistic designs on pavement such as streets, sidewalks, and town squares with impermanent materials. Street Painting originated in Italy in the 16th century. Street painters were called "madonnaro", which translates to Madonna, because the early images were mostly of the Madonna. The madonnari were traveling artists. Aware of festival and holy days in each province and town, they traveled to join in the festivities. They created images in public squares and in front of the local church using bits of broken roof tiles, charcoal, and white chalk. Passersby would often leave a bit of bread or olive oil for the artist along with an occasional coin. After the festivities or with the first rain, both the painting and the painter would vanish. 

I'm a big fan of interactive public art, so street painting hits a sweet spot with me. There's something remarkable about watching simple tools like chalk and brushes in the hands of a skilled artist bring out results like these:

There was also live music throughout the two-day festival on two stages.

I also have a personal connection to the festival. For the third year, my son Andrew was participating as an artist in the festival. This was, however, his first year participating as a registered artist, and the first year since he's had formal art training. Andrew is a 22-year-old with Autism, and his talent for art has been extremely important in helping him integrate into the larger world outside the disability community. Here he is working on his drawing of JFK (with, ironically, Marilyn Monroe in the background. No, it wasn't planned that way):

There were several standout pieces, and the depth of the creativity was truly astounding:

One of the questions that comes up all the time is, "What happens if it rains?" That's not a hypothetical question in Upstate NY, where the weather is unpredictable at best. The weather held throughout the day Saturday, with some scattered rain clouds all around the city, but no inclement weather all day. There was some light rain on Saturday night, but the artists were prepared, covering their works in tarps and plastic, and carefully sealed tightly to protect their works in case of the worst.

Or so we thought. This is what we discovered with Andrew's piece when we uncovered it on Sunday morning:

We weren't alone. While most pieces survived unscathed, several were quite damaged. Like the other artists in that situation, Andrew dabbed the piece dry and set out to fix it, making it even better than it had been. One friend suggested that he should have left it the way it was, and titled it "Tears Of A Nation". Hmmm....maybe next year!

In the end, it turned out to be a fantastic day. Andrew's finished piece even won the "People's Choice" award, given to the work that received the highest number of votes as determined by festival-goers. It was great to see so many artists receive recognition for their temporary masterpieces.

I'm a firm believer in the ability of art to change communities. It was heartening to see thousands of people fill the streets over two days to share a common love of art, music and camaraderie in a town that's not known for its high culture. Elmira, like many communities, does not have to be bound to its past, its reputation, or other people's expectations. The words of JFK seem prophetic and oddly appropriate here:

"History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past washing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside."

Indeed.

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As an aside, I produced a time-lapse of Andrew's JFK drawing. This shows his progress through Saturday, before the rain got to the work: