NEWS

Slice of the action: Battle for pizza supremacy in Marion

Andrew Carter

Reporter

MARION - Slingers of dough and sauce are gearing up to fight the battle for pizza supremacy in Marion County.

Spencer Phelps, general manager of blues radio station WDIF-FM in Marion, said he borrowed the idea for The Great Marion Pizza Challenge from previous events held at Tri-Rivers Career Center.

"I wanted to bring it back," said Phelps. "I thought it would be a fun idea. Tri-Rivers was all for it."

The competition is planned from 5 to 8 p.m. Feb. 7 at Tri-Rivers, he said. Eight Marion County restaurants have signed to participate in the event.

"I was pleasantly surprised at the number of pizza places that agreed to come," Phelps said. "I think it's going to be a really good competition because all of these folks have their own signature pizza."

The Great Marion Pizza Challenge is planned for Feb. 7 at Tri-Rivers Career Center. Eight local restaurants have entered the competition sponsored by radio station 97.5 WDIF FM-LP.

The following restaurants are competing in the challenge: Belly Busters Pizzeria of Waldo, Berwick Pizza & Subs of Green Camp, Brookside Pizza Dive, Genova's Pizza, Calzones & More, Mega Moo Pizza & Ice Cream, Neighbors Pizza, Sansotta's Fresh Italian and Vango's Pizzaria.

"I wanted to reach out to all of the local pizza places, not the chains, and make it Marion's Pizza Challenge," Phelps said. "A few folks I reached out to either couldn't participate or just didn't get back to me. But I'm really happy with what we've got for the first event."

Each visitor to the challenge can purchase a punch card for $5 that will grant them two slices of pizza from each restaurant. They can then vote for their favorite and the top three pizza-makers will each receive a prize package from WDIF.

"Everybody will get 16 slices," Phelps said. "That's a lot of pizza. And you get try all of these different pizza places."

Phelps said proceeds from the challenge will benefit the WDIF Blues Crew, which helps provide free musical instrument rentals for Marion County children ages 6 to 13. The station has teamed up with Musicians 1 Stop in Marion to provide the service.

Tri-Rivers will be selling soft drinks during the event to raise funds for its Career Technical Student Organizations.

Andrew Carter is the Life In Marion reporter for The Marion Star. Contact him at eacarter@gannett.com or 740-375-5154. Follow him on Twitter @AndrewCarterMS or Facebook @LifeInMarionOhio.