It started off simple enough.
Every year, the Lawrence County Museum and Historical Society holds a pie social in July and invites The Ironton Tribune to come and cover the story and take a couple of photos. This year, reporter Terry Hapney went and got double duty as reporter and dessert judge.
No big deal.
Hapney was happy that his photo captured Judene Love’s reaction when she won in 2024 Pie Social Amateur Class. It was a big deal for Love since she had been entering the pie social for years and finally won for her Atlantic Beach pie.
Since Hapney wasn’t familiar with it, Love explained that “Apparently, it’s a pie that’s made at Coney Island in New York. That’s why it’s called ‘Atlantic Beach.’”
(It turns out that is not accurate. More on that to come.)
Hapney wrote up the story and it was printed in the July 17 edition of The Tribune. It was then put up on The Tribune’s website and Facebook page.
No big deal, a few thumbs up and heart reactions.
And all was quiet for five days.
Then Monday morning, The Tribune starts getting notifications about a Facebook page it was tagged in. And it was readily apparently that people in North Carolina were not happy with us.
A quick click on the link took us to a Facebook page called The State You’re In. There is a headline that “OHIO newspaper The Ironton Tribune claims ATLANTIC BEACH PIE is from CONEY ISLAND, NEW YORK. Look OHIO, you already got our Cherie Berry, you aint getting this too! NORTH CAROLINA, FIRST IN FLIGHT, ELEVATORS & PIE”
Turns out that Atlantic Beach pie was famously popularized by Chef Bill Smith at Crook’s Corner restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
And boy, some of the people of North Carolina were mad at The Tribune for making such a suggestion that their beloved pie had come from the Empire State.
This was indeed now a big deal.
There was a Mean Girls meme asking why we were obsessed with them (we are so not!), accusation that Ohioans are called Buckeyes because they are nuts (no comment) and two posters wishing to declare war on Ohio over the matter. (We declined because we do not want to explain to our boss or the governor why there would be a battle over pie.)
The Tribune quickly conceded that Smith did popularize the pie and that “we do deeply and sincerely apologize for any offense this may have caused any North Carolinians and did not mean to give the credit for this culinary delight to another state.”
The Tribune reached out to The State You’re In to find out how a Lawrence County story made its way onto their Facebook. Turns out it was sent in by a reader since more than a few Ohioans have moved there and vacation there.
“It was all in good fun,” The State You’re In said.
Thank goodness, The Tribune has a small staff and the best we could muster is a tiff or a scuffle, definitely not a war.
Hapney reached out to Love and she explained that she had spent several hours checking out pie recipes before settling on Atlantic Beach pie.
“To tell the truth, I read the recipe, and I thought, ‘Oh man; that sounds really good’ and I didn’t read the background. I was thinking Atlantic Beach-Coney Island,” she explained. “In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have said anything. I was just guessing. It wasn’t copyrighted or anything. Regardless of who started it, I live in Ohio and was able to read a recipe on the internet and made a winning pie! That’s my explanation. I guess next time I’ll try to research a little bit more before I start saying something to a reporter.”
In Love’s defense, there IS an “Atlantic Beach,” just 17 miles or 21 miles (depending on the route one takes) from Coney Island in New York. According to the 2020 census, Atlantic Beach, New York has a population of 1,707. Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, has a population of 1,364.
So that is that in nutshell.
So, we at The Tribune apologize for the whole pie saga and promise to not try to offend any state, region or municipality when it comes to desserts.
We are certainly not going to weigh in on such matters as what state makes the best barbecue or which region has the superior hot dog sauce.
We’ve learned our lesson!

Editor’s Note:

There was also mention that they wanted Cherie Berry back.

The Tribune originally thought was another type of dessert, but turns out is actually a beloved state labor commissioner who put her face on official elevator inspection forms and became a North Carolina pop culture icon who is often lovingly called the Elevator Queen. She has even had songs written about her and a couple of craft beers named for her.

Turns out that after she retired, she moved to Toledo and the people of North Carolina want her back.

Again, The Tribune will not be getting that particular fuss.

Mark Shaffer is a long-time reporter for The Ironton Tribune. He is definitely getting a piece of Atlantic Beach pie the next time he is in North Carolina.