T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Laurel Community Church Pastor Matt Hansen lets a pie plate fall from his face during the pie auction on Saturday. The winning bidder paid $130 for the privilege of smashing the key lime pie into Hansen’s face.

LAUREL – How much is a pie worth? Especially when money paid for it goes to a worthwhile cause?

Members of the Laurel community participated in a pie auction, run by The Dirt Dealer auctioneers, during the third annual Laurel’s Midsummer Carnival and Car Show for a Cause. Some pies were purchased for $60, another for $250. One, a key lime pie, was auctioned for the purpose of the winning bidder getting the opportunity to smash it into Matt Hansen’s face, the pastor of the Laurel Community Church.

He chose the frozen pie purchased from a store specifically because it would be soft enough to not be painful when it hit his face.

“I don’t want to waste a good strawberry rhubarb,” the pastor said.

Event organizer Stephanie Hansen, and Matt Hansen’s wife, said the pie auction is what most of the people engage in during the event.

“It’s our big money raiser,” she said. “We have 23 pies this year. It’s the most fun we have here.”

This year, an Oreo pie seemed to draw the most talk before the auction began. However, one portion of the auction left it open for the winning bidder to choose whatever pie they desired. The winner walked away with a $250 coconut cream pie.

Hansen said proceeds from the event will be split between the 4:12 Youth Group and the family of Jim Freerks.

“Jim has been going through cancer treatments, but he’s on a brutal path, so we’re raising money for their family,” she said. “We’re also giving to the youth group, and whatever is left over will go toward their mission trip.”

While a portion always goes to the youth group for their mission trips, Hansen said they determine who will get the rest.

“It depends on who is most in need in the community,” she said. “We don’t have a goal [amount.] We have free will baskets. It’s whatever God does. All of the things we have here are sponsored. The church doesn’t pay for anything. So, everything that is raised go to those two causes.”

In addition to the pie auction, the Laurel Fire Department made walking tacos, and folks could look at the 50 car show entrants and place bets on the cow pie drop. For the kids, there were bubbles, face painting, a bouncy house and food party.

For Hansen, the best part of the annual event is the chance to get the community together.

“There’s not anything in Laurel anymore,” she said. “We don’t have any coffee shops, any restaurants. We have nothing for people to get together in Laurel. We did it just to bring people together.”

In addition to the Laurel Community Church, Bolliver’s Garage and the fire department were sponsors of the Laurel’s Midsummer Carnival and Car Show for a Cause.

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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.