Indiana’s Largest Apple Pie, Made With Love
“Nope, I know what you’re going to ask me and, no, I don’t make apple pie the rest of the year, and never, ever do I eat it,” says Mim Hartman, of Wakarusa, with a laugh. “Won’t touch it. On my own I love to make cherry pie, peanut butter pie and peach pie, and many others. Don’t get me wrong; apple pie is just fine. But I think you could say, when it comes to pie, I’m all ‘appled’ out.
I grew up learning all about baking thanks to my mom, Anna Mast. She was just an excellent pie baker and I learned so much from her—her rhubarb custard pie is still probably my all-time favorite. She had so many, there was even a raisin cream pie she made that so many people just loved.
This is my 15th year as Head Baker of the 7-foot apple pie at the Nappanee Apple Festival. The festival has grown over the years, we average about 80,000 people a year, and the giant apple pie is always a big draw. We have foods and crafts, vendors, entertainment, rides, and we do get a lot of people from all over who come out of interest in the pie.
The first year I volunteered to help make the 7-foot apple pie, one of the committee members was there with me to show me everything that was involved, which was good because I’d baked a lot of pies in my life, but I never baked one weighing over 600 pounds. There was quite a lot involved. The committee member was helpful, and showed me every step, and all the details and recipe notes—everything I’d need to know for doing it the next year—and then said, after all those many hours, ‘Next year, you’re on your own.’
The process for making the pie hasn’t changed much. It’s no easy task.
It is Indiana’s largest apple pie; it takes 10 people just to lift it in the custom pan we bake it in. We start with about 100 pounds of pie dough. Then the filling, prepared from about 16 bushels of apples, gets brought in—and that’s when my team and I go to work putting the pie all together. It takes six or seven of us about five or six hours to build the pie. From there, another team goes about getting it into the special 9-foot oven, where it will cook overnight and be done just in time for the festival; where over 1,000 people will get a piece of the pie.
For me, I love making the pie and I love being involved because it’s just a great festival; it’s friendly and wholesome and fun, and there are so many people who come out to enjoy it. There’s a great history to all of it, with Miller’s Orchard in Nappanee, and just the way it’s grown and changed over the years.
I’m not shy, and I love meeting the people—we get hundreds of folks who come to see the pie; they gather around and are in total disbelief and amazement. Kids always want to know everything about it, they have a million questions for me. And I get a kick out of the look on the mom’s faces when kids always say something like, ‘Mom, can we try that at home?’
I love being a part of it. The reward for me is working with such a great group of people, and knowing we work hard every year to make sure it’s a job well done. It feels good when you take time to do something, and do it well, and especially when you’re doing it with a good, helpful purpose in mind.
I can tell you this much. I know our 7-foot apple pie isn’t the biggest apple pie in the world, there are others that are bigger. Someone else can have credit for that. But I do think ours is the prettiest, and I know that it’s made with love.”
The 47th annual Nappanee Apple Festival takes place Sept. 14-17 in Nappanee, Indiana. The Nappanee Apple Festival, one of the largest festivals in the state of Indiana, was originally operated by Harley and Mary Miller, of Miller’s Orchard, in Nappanee. Harley and Mary’s son, Maynard Miller, and Maynard’s granddaughter, Nikki Beer, serve on the festival committee to this day.
The festival’s famous 7-foot apple pie was the brainchild of Ron Telschow, a former bakery owner, who commissioned the welding of the pie’s custom pan and purchased an oven large enough to bake the pie. The pie is still baked in the very same oven, now housed inside Nappanee’s Don Carlos Bar and Grill. For more information about the Nappanee Apple Festival, visit https://www.nappaneeapplefestival.org/.
To nominate a volunteer like Mim for their dedicated work in Elkhart County, fill out this easy submission form. Let us know their story!
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
– Sir Winston Churchill
Nominate a volunteer or share your volunteer story for a feature on our website and social media.
