LaFayette residents celebrate library with pie war

Local officials stress importance, relevance of community library

LAFAYETTE, Georgia (WDEF) — From apple to rhubarb, pumpkin to peanut butter — Americans love their pie.

On Wednesday night in LaFayette, nine neighbors ditched the forks and ate some face first for their local library.

Nine local celebrities competed through the summer to see who could raise the most money for the Lafayette-Walker County Public Library.

The winner’s prize was the slapstick classic — taking a pie to the face.

Looney Tunes came to life Wednesday night in Walker County, as the summer’s “pie war” came to an end.

Dr. Aaron Ford of Ford Chiropractic raised the most money for the local library, earning him a fresh lemon meringue pie right in the pie hole.

“He wasn’t too hard on me — it felt good, though,” Ford said. “I’m glad we were able to raise the most money. I’m not a big lemon meringue fan — it’d have been better chocolate.”

While he didn’t win the fundraiser, LaFayette Mayor Andy Arnold also participated and took his just desserts Wednesday, as well.

Arnold says the library’s importance hasn’t been lost on him and hopes it remains utilized by local residents.

He called the library “the center of the community.”

“Libraries are not the libraries I grew up with in school,” Arnold said. “This library is used a great deal technologically speaking. People are here all the time using the internet to do job applications. It’s just a major part of our community.”

In the end, the Friends of the Library were able to raise a total of $2,500 for the facility.

Manager Tim York was also one of the event’s participants and says despite public perception, the local library’s doors are always open to serve its neighbors.

“Lots of people think libraries have no meaning or no use anymore but that’s not the case,” York said. “Libraries still provide the books, the audiobooks and the movies, but we also provide free access to computers. We provide community services like community rooms, faxing, copying, [and] notarizing services.