RUTLAND, Vt. (WCAX) – Even without a world record attempt at the Rutland Whoopie Pie Festival, the Mable City was packed with people looking to try out a sweet treat.

Danny Smith and a few Middlebury College friends were some of the thousands of people who poured into Rutland Saturday. They decided to try their hand at one of the many festivities the festival had to offer: a whoopie pie eating contest. “It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, I feel like I can look at food and yeah, I can do that, but I could barely finish one, a visceral reaction when I was holding it took two bites and had to pass it off,” Danny Smith of Woodstock said.

While they didn’t win a whoopie pie eating contest, they’re just excited to explore what one of the most unique festivals had to offer.

“It’s nice to see the very involved community, there’s a lot more people here than we were expecting, so it’s exciting,” Smith said.

But with more people, means many more mouths to feed.

Many returning bakeries prepared more cakes this time around, but were still selling out.

“Last year, our first year, we sold out within an hour and a half, and we’re at what two and a half hours now, and we only have a couple flavors left out of a thousand,” Peggy Mitchell, of Mitchell Delights, said.

While maple bacon was one of the more unique flavors, plenty of others were hits throughout the fest, with fall-themed apple cider and pumpkin on offer from plenty of bakeries.

“Well I’ve never been to Vermont, and so I’m slowly making my way around the states and I thought it would be a really fun opportunity,” Jasmine Mendez, of Thrive Cakery said.

Thrive Cakery’s Jasmine Mendez came up to the Green Mountain State from Rhode Island for the very first time.

She sold out of her roughly 400 whoopie pies quickly, and was impressed with the region.

“The hospitality here is really nice, I had no idea, they talk about southern hospitality I think Vermont has you beat, you know,” Mendez said.

Dozens of other vendors lined Center St. and Merchants Row, not all were selling the same sweet treats.

But they say they were still having a lot of success.

“People want a different snack, not everybody wants a dense whoopie pie, somebody wants a nice fluffier snack to eat that’s what we’re for,” Cedric White of Green Mountain Kettle Corn said.

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