August 2010

Hothouse is The Sprout Fund’s annual benefit and showcase event. The event serves as stage to present a sampling of some of the innovative projects and emerging leaders of successful community initiatives supported by Sprout over the past year. Held annually at unique development sites, the event celebrates the organization’s accomplishments and features live music and performances, food and drink by Pittsburgh favorites, a silent auction, and a VIP reception.

The Sprout Fund was the sponsor of the QT Pi(e) Project, so we were part of the county fair!

Part of the impetus behind The QT Pi(e) Project was my desire to have a bakery at a 314 address called “QT Pi(e)’s.”  The hothouse booth was just that!  The concept was a diner façade where county regulars would sit and chat with their QT Pie hostesses dressed in proper diner waitress ensembles.  The menu for the night- pie a la mode made from all local, natural ingredients!

Making it happen…

The QT Pi(e) Project is very fortunate indeed to have its own, personal, tremendously talented carpenter- the dashing carpenter!  In exchange for love and pies, Kristian  often lends a very talented hand.  This time around, Kristian made our QT Pie dream concept a reality.  In an effort to leave the man to his madness, there aren’t many photos of the making of the booth, but we have some of the finishing touches to show.

A few things changed since the initial scheme.  In the interest of fully using the potential of our space, we opted to use an entire table instead of attaching little counter tops to the sides of the booth.  Rather than a brick facade, we went with a bright blue!  The people at the paint store thought we were crazy, but the color reminded us of old French bakeries. With so much work, we opted not to have a pie throwing element.  We’d rather eat our QT Pies then waste them on antics.  The last thing we needed was a menu board, but there was a dashing carpenter to that rescue as well!

Hothouse came and went so quickly.  Our bakery facade exceeded our expectations.  We shared our pie and ice cream mission with several party attendees who made some of the best faces after sampling our pies!  And we still had time to party!  All in all, it was worth the effort.  Special thanks to Dana Leigh Dolney, our official QT Pie photographer for the evening.

As always, for the full pi(e) story, check out The QT Pi(e) Blog.