Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson and Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins are wagering signature pies from their respective cities as a show of camaraderie ahead of the College Football Playoff National Championship.
No. 1 Indiana will face off against No. 10 Miami at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Thomson and Higgins talked ahead of the championship game to share in the excitement and agree on a “civic wager,” a Friday press release said. Both plan to meet in person while attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors later this month.
The mayor of the losing team’s city will send the other mayor a pie. Thomson is wagering a sugar cream pie from Two Sticks Bakery. Higgins is wagering a key lime pie from Fookem’s Fabulous.
Two Sticks Bakery is a women owned and operated business founded in 2018 that received an influx of business last April after a TikTok video about their coffee went viral, amassing over 33,000 views.
“This is about community, connection, and enjoying a shared moment,” Thomson said in the press release. “It’s fun to celebrate something happening on a national stage while keeping the focus on the people in our cities who are watching, talking, and enjoying it together.”
In 2009, the Indiana Senate passed a nonbinding special resolution deeming the sugar cream pie, sometimes referred to as “Hoosier Pie,” Indiana’s unofficial state pie.
The pie originated from Shaker communities in eastern Indiana. The first ever recipe for the pie was found in a cookbook dated over 165 years ago, attributed to a resident of Miami County, Indiana.
“A pie felt like a natural fit — it’s familiar, rooted in place, and a small way to highlight local businesses,” Desiree DeMolina, communications director for the Office of the Mayor, said in an email to the Indiana Daily Student.
