If you wanted to get a large pie, say 3 feet in diameter, into a car for a trip to the President of the United States at his summer residence, how would you do it? If you were Frank Burkhart, Tom VanPelt’s Great Grandfather, and the car was, say, a 1926 Lincoln, you could just flip up the windshield and slide it in!
Five thousand cherries went into the presidential pie displayed by Hugh Burkhart (left), 1926 cherry festival queen Charlotte Kearns, and Wallace Keep.” Photo courtesy Grand Traverse Region Summer Magazine, July 1984
And you could ask your son, Hugh, to drive it on the uncertain early roads of 1926 and deliver it to the President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, at his summer residence. Wallace Keep, who had been in college with Calvin Coolidge, volunteered to accompany the pie east and present it to his Amherst “brother” at the summer White House in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. For Tom’s grandfather, who owned a fruit packing company on Old Mission, it was a good way to promote cherries.
Cherry Harvest
It had been a good year for cherries, so getting enough cherries wasn’t a problem. 5000 cherries had to be pitted. A special pie tin was fashioned with interior sections so that the contents would not slide around. Hawkins Bakery in Traverse City made the pie using 42 pounds of Montmorency cherries (and not one pit).
Locals got a chance to see the pie briefly as it cooled in the bakery window. Next, they had to get it into the car. Lifting the windshield up, they carefully slid it the pie under the window. They carefully placed it into a box on the back seat. The box was made specially for it by the Michigan Fancy Fruit company. It was painted and decorated by Henry Day.
The Lincoln
The Lincoln was given a final high polish and then, on Saturday, August 14th, 1926, the pie bearers and a photographer left Traverse City. They drove for two days, through Canada at Detroit and back into the United States at Niagara Falls.
A cartoon showing Coolidge’s reaction to the big pie at the formal dinner with many dignitaries present. – Cartoon by Michigan Historical Museum graphic artist Leland Benson which first appeared in Grand Traverse Region Summer Magazine, July 1984
On Sunday, Hugh, a bit too eager to get the pie on the President’s table, was stopped for speeding going 47 miles an hour. The officer heard their story and destination and no doubt saw the pie in the back seat. He quickly changed his tune and waved them on, wishing them success.
The Lincoln with its pie and passengers arrived on Tuesday, August 17th.The formal meeting with President Coolidge came on Wednesday at a dinner with many distinguished guests. The President seemed unusually pleased and almost gleeful when the grand dessert appeared. He said, “No talk of fish this evening, (he was quite the fisherman), no lingering over the meat. Kindly cut it up in pieces, Grace, no matter what the size.” No doubt he was hoping to be awarded a big piece!
Restoring Grandfather’s Truck
Tom VanPelt shows the blue color of the “clearance lights” above the flip up windshield on his 1935 truck.
On this sunny summer afternoon, Tom is restoring his grandfather’s 1935 truck. He has some help with parts from another VanPelt (no relation) who has a Cincinnati company that specializes in old Ford parts. The engine, the pedals, and other parts are all over his barn. The clearance lights shine turquoise above the lift up windshield. The tires, however, are finished, shiny black and ready. This time Tom and his 13 year old grandson Austin, who will be old enough to drive by then, are going. The plan is for 2026 to wherever the summer residence is for whomever is president then. He thinks the truck will be ready.
The pie will be ready. Arrangements will be made for a bakery in Traverse City to pop the big pie into the oven in time for the drive. The 5,000 cherries of course, will come from Overlook Farm.
100 Years
Omena will get some unusual publicity on this trip!
Next year will be the 100th anniversary of Overlook Farm so perhaps Tom will be able to do it next year during the cherry festival. But a pie delivery 100 years after the first event has a certain ring to it. It may happen in 2026. Certainly, the roads will be better now than in 1926. But even though the 1935 truck will be able to go 60 MPH over good highways, Tom would like a follow-up car, and he’d like it to be an old police car. I suggested a 1920’s firetruck and he said that would be a nice addition. Perhaps both!
The 1935 truck has been waiting for this a long time for this. It has been sitting in the barn for 60 years.
The last time it was driven was in 1959. Tom will be working on the truck in the unheated barn until December. He will take a break until warmer weather comes in the spring.
We think his grandmother Emily Nash Smith, and Hugh, the driver so many years ago, will be cheering him on from beyond.