COEUR d'ALENE - Cream pie up the nose?

Yes, please.

Three pie-eating contests took place Sunday morning at the North Midway of the Kootenai County Fairgrounds during the North Idaho Fair and Rodeo, with about 12 participants per competition.

Kids of all ages and a few grownups knelt next to a table with their hands behind their backs and waited for the countdown. They each dove into a slice of cream pie, and winners were awarded gift cards.

Friends Zachary Cook, 17, of Athol and Carisa Lee, 14, of Hayden were two competitors. They laughed at each other's pie faces after one of the contests.

"It was delicious," Cook said. He won a $5 Ace Hardware gift card for his pie-eating prowess. This was Cook and Lee's first stab at such a contest. Cook's advice to first-timers was to "just go at it," while Lee advised to not eat doughnuts beforehand.

Rather than the traditional "all-you-can-eat" pie-eating contest, these were speed competitions and whoever ate their slice the fastest won.

Garrett Thyr, 15, of Cataldo, wore a paper crown while he chowed down. He said he had fun, but also thought it was "gross."

"I hate cream pies," he said with a hearty laugh. "The chocolate was better than the other one, I'm sure."

Marketing and events intern Emily Aizawa of Athol signed in contestants, counted down to the contests and directed people to paper towels.

"It was all speed and you couldn't use your hands, so it was as messy as possible," she said.

The pie-eating contests took place multiple days during the fair, just one tasty event to showcase this year's theme of "Everything Under the Sun."

Dane Dugan, general manager of the fairgrounds, said the fair went great.

"We've had an amazing year," he said. "People have welcomed all the different changes, the new layout, the new carnival has received rave reviews. Our numbers are incredible."

He said the fair was so busy Saturday, no parking spaces were available for part of the day and the rodeo sold out.

"We wanted to make enough improvements to the fairgrounds where we built the buzz where people would know that it's new and fresh and things aren't the same as they've always been," Dugan said. He said the top complaint he has heard since he assumed the position of general manager last October is that the fair never changes.

"That's the idea of the fair," he said, "that it evolves and changes with the needs and the interest of the community."

And the changes have been positive for the fair.

"We're very, very happy, and I think our guests are happy, too," he said.

Dugan said he estimated that easily more than 70,000 people visited the North Idaho Fair and Rodeo this year, and that doesn't include those with prepurchased or free tickets.

"From our perspective, we just want to say thanks," Dugan said. "This is the community's event, so for people to come out and support the local vendors, support the organizations that are serving food ... and to give us a chance to prove that we really do have everything under the sun."

While the fairgrounds may have a new look and things have moved around, numbers show that the excitement and magic of the fair continues to draw families, kids and those young at heart to its many different attractions.

"It's that nostalgic connection that people have, to not just the facility, but those memories of your youth," he said. "That's what makes it a special place, because you can't replicate that. It's exciting to know that you kind of play a role in those memories for people."