Butter tarts, anyone?

Andrea Duggan | Sep 02, 2016

This Saturday, Sept. 3 will be a sweet day to be at the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market at the beach in Sharbot Lake. At 10:30am, the judging for the Second Annual Buttertart Challenge will take place. There were 15 entrants last year and it looks like there will be that many and more this year, as Frontenaconians love their butter tarts and clearly love to compete as well. The winner of the $50 prize and title of "Best Buttertart in Frontenac County" will be announced at 11:30 am.

The competition was started last Labour Day weekend by Mary de Bassecourt and Andrea Duggan on behalf of the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market as another event to drum up community spirit. The winner last year, Jocelyn Harpell, (of Jossey's) credits her mother, Annabelle, for the family recipe. Molly Ducharme finished second, a mere 1/2 point behind! Not bad for a girl in grade 8! Anyone can win!

The audience gets to enjoy the tarts as well, as quarters are handed out while the judges are diligently and painstakingly grading the tarts, first by appearance, then by the texture of the crust, the flavour and consistency of the filling and finally, how does it taste all together? These are some of the hardball questions that must be addressed by our panel of judges - all local butter tart lovers of various ages.

Get baking, people! Register by September 2 with a fun name for your butter tart creation. To register, send an email with "Butter Tart" in the Subject line to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. In the body of the email, include your name and the title of your butter tarts. Be creative! Then drop off six butter tarts at the bandstand on September 3. You never know, you may end up $50 richer and with a whole new status in the county!