U. of Maine Dining Builds “Mountain of Whoopie Pies”

At the University of Maine, customers order up an average of 20,000 whoopie pies a year, a consumption trend that gives its Dining Services department a new meaning for the term, “Making Whoopie.” So in late September, it was an easy decision for the Dining Services Events Committee to commemorate Maine’s recent designation of the whoopee pie as the official state snack by building a four foot tall "Mountain of Whoopie Pies" in the shape of the state’s famous mile-high Mount Katahdin.

The celebration was held on September 28, 90 days following the passage of bill LD71, which designated the whoopie pie as the state treat. The display included at the base of the mountain whoopie pies with blue frosting to resemble the Penobscot River, using over 1500 pumpkin, chocolate chip, blueberry and a white cake whoopie pies with chocolate frosting filling to form the rest of the mountain.

Amos Orcutt, the president of the Maine Whoopie Pie Association (his primary job is president and CEO of the University of Maine Foundation) was the one who convinced Gov. John Baldacci to declare the fourth Saturday in June as "Maine Whoopie Pie Day." His interest began after he read a 2009 New York Times article that said Pennsylvania was the originator of the dessert. Orcutt says his research on the subject went back to the 1920s, when aging Mainers he spoke to recalled their grandmothers baking and serving whoopie pies nearly a century ago.

"Pennsylvania could only document whoopie pies back to the 1950s,” he says. People said, 'Amos, you've got to do something about it.'"