MARCH 14, SATURDAY 3/14/26

PI DAY

I had never heard of Pi day, in recognition of the date and the number of Pi (3.14) being the same. Every aspect of Pi day was a surprise. It began with Susie, Todd and me going to Walnut Family Bakery in the nearby community of Walnut for coffee and pastries and pie. Four bakers had baked a mountain of pies. A slice of pie cost $8 with all of the proceeds going to help families who couldn’t afford health care in rural Western North Carolina. The line of people who had come from all over was so long and the parking so impossible that there was a state trooper there trying to keep people from parking on the road. People walked away with boxes of pies. Everyone had a great time. I bought two slices of pie (Todd and Susie don’t eat pie for health reasons) and we sat in the sunshine and ate pastries and drank coffee.

In the sunny afternoon on a warm day on Back Street by the river in Marshall Pi Day was celebrated with band after band playing from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. with a dunking booth where a thrown ball hitting a lever would drop the mayor into a huge tub of water with a long line of children lined up to trying, and sometimes succeeding, in dropping him into the cold water. Maybe 500 people from Marshall and surrounding hollows greeted old friends, ate at the food booth and watched the children racing around. Then after dark someone with Burning Tree experience played a light show that covered the hill above the river with patterns of light after which a shack built for the occasion was burned in a huge bonfire.

What delights me is two things about the day. One is the sense of community and mutual support in a community that combines liberals who have moved in for the beauty of the mountains and the river with MAGA conservatives whose ancestors have lived here for generations. It is the same kind of mutual support that the flooding of Helene and the following cleanup brought to Madison County. The second thing is that this little community of only 800 or so people finds any excuse to have a celebration. There is no other reason to celebrate Pi day. But it will be followed in the months ahead by the Mermaids and Pirates Parade, a Fourth of July parade, a fashion show and more. It is a great place to live.