FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. (WCCO) — One of the few new food vendors at the Minnesota State Fair this year is Sara’s Tipsy Pies.

Sara is a mom of five who just started her business a few years ago and is already showcasing pies with alcohol baked in. She told WCCO’s Nina Moini how she made it from a small kitchen in the basement of her town’s general store to the state fair.

There are about 1,100 vendors at the State Fair and it’s very competitive. Many return year after year. Sara says she is still pinching herself that she beat the competition. But she couldn’t have done it without a lot of help and she’s still getting help from some State Fair veterans.

She’s the newbie inside the food building. But Sara Hayden says from the minute she set up her Tipsy Pies, everyone has treated her like family

“All vendors have welcomed me in here and when I’ve had troubles with the freezer they’ve run to my aid. Sweet Martha came over, the cheese curd guy, the ice cream guy. It’s just amazing,” she said.

Even her staff is made up of volunteers this year.

“I submitted my application in April and we were in by June 4,” she said.

And though her mother isn’t here anymore to help in the kitchen — it was her pie crust recipe — combined with alcohol from local breweries and distilleries that made these Tipsy Pies possible.

Sara only started baking these pies a few years ago in her hometown of Marine on St. Croix.

“My husband said you need to find a job because it’s expensive to have five kids and I couldn’t find a job that would accommodate five kids and a child with Down Syndrome,” she said.

She doesn’t even have her own kitchen space yet, but she’s hopeful selling nearly 1,000 pies a day at the State Fair will bring her business to the next level.

“It’s just been a great journey so far still kind of on that high we think,” she said.

You saw she mentioned her child with Down Syndrome. Some proceeds do go to help with that cause.

She hopes next year she can pay her employees and get her own distribution center.