On November, 16th, 2025, Beth M. Howard, author, former resident of the American Gothic house, and baker, presented her film, PIEOWA: A PIECE OF AMERICA, at the Western Illinois Museum (WI Museum). Howard has been on a film and book tour, showing PIEOWA and selling books at various events across the Midwest and larger United States. She is currently the author of four books, Hausfrau Honeymoon: Love, Language, and Other Misadventures in Germany, Ms. American Pie: Buttery Good Pie Recipes and Bold Tales from the American Gothic House, Making Piece: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Pie, and World Piece. However, Howard currently considers her film, PIEOWA to be her penultimate creation.

PIEOWA had two afternoon showings at the WI Museum on November 16th (one at 1:30 p.m. and one at 3:45 p.m.); each showing sold out fifty seats [and nearly twenty additional individuals arrived per showing and sat in the overflow seats]! Bisecting the two showings was a presentation and discussion by Howard. Each of the two facets of the event (the PIEOWA showings and Howard’s Q&A session) both offered something different to attendees.

PIEOWA: A PIECE OF AMERICA is a unique event that fits right in with the typical events presented by the WI Museum. The town of Macomb has only one mid-sized movie theater (and it so rarely presents special events or movie premieres), so it was incredible to see a traveling feature present in humble Macomb! Several individuals who attended one of the PIEOWA screenings at the WI Museum noted praise for the unique event: 

From Facebook, Randy Powell stated, “Fantastic event! Thanks for bringing Beth [Howard] and her documentary to [the] Western Illinois Museum!” Rose Elam said that PIEOWA was an “Excellent event!” and Sue Marshall offered praise: “It was such a fun and tasty event!

Yes! You read Marshall’s comment correctly! PIEOWA at the WI Museum was a “tasty” event. During the interim period between the first film showing and Howard’s Q&A session, a selection of over a dozen handmade pies was offered for consumption. Pies ranging from banana cream and sweet pumpkin to savory green tomato and pecan were all offered at the event; this wide range of pies ties hand-in-hand with the themes tackled in PIEOWA.

The official synopsis from the WI Museum PIEOWA event describes Howard’s film as follows:

PIEOWA celebrates the myriad [of] ways pie is baked into Iowa’s culture, the lengths people will go to for a slice, and how this humble pastry can bake the world a better place. What begins as a love letter to pie, an emblem of comfort, generosity, and Americana, unfolds into a deeper reflection on resilience, community, and the shared traditions that connect us. Through the stories of farmers, bakers, small-town dreamers, and everyday heroes, the film captures the heart of rural America with honesty and affection.

This is an excellent summary of PIEOWA (taken, cut/and/pasted from Howard’s own “Pieowa – The World Needs More Pie” Website). However, it leaves out something special. PIEOWA is, of course, about pies – “it is a love letter to pie” – (if you are looking for an education between the differences of sweet and savory pies, you will find it here), but it is more than that; PIEOWA is the most recent stop in Beth Howard’s fascinating story in researching connection. PIEOWA is about connection. One of those two things that made the PIEOWA showing in Macomb so special was Howard’s presence (her connection to the audience). In Macomb, how often do you get to sit in a film/theatrical setting and hear director commentary on a product? At the WI Museum showing of PIEOWA, Howard offered intimate commentary on her experience filming her documentary, her plans for the future, and how pie has shaped her! Step-by-step, audience members were taken by Howard on a journey, recapping what they had just watched, and it was magical! So rare is an experience like this in rural America, but it is part of what makes PIEOWA so special!

PIEOWA is not built to be consumed while sitting on a couch at home … it is not meant to be viewed on an iPhone on a train (as informative and educational as these experiences may be). PIEOWA was created, instead, as a live show of sorts; Howard does not sell DVDs of her film — she tours with it. PIEOWA is about the power of pie, and expertly functions with a live audience; this film about community was built to be shown within community settings and third spaces!

Howard’s film is split up into a number of sections (each designed to look like recipe cards). Some highlights were “Church Lady Pie,” “Pie From Down Under,” “Egg Rolls Are Pie, Too,” and especially “Pies of the Iowa State Fair.” Each section helps PIEOWA harken back to its roots as a documentary (each section, though, also functions as a chapter of sorts, harkening back to Howard’s roots as an author.

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WI Museum’s event on November 16, 2025, “See the Film, Meet the Filmmaker | PIEOWA: A PIECE OF AMERICA” was successful for a whole host of reasons. Food, of course, brings people together (and there was some delicious pie at this event)! The WI Museum is a rare third space in a town – Macomb – that so desperately needs more places for individuals of all ages to coexist. Film is a unique medium that allows for self-expression (and Howard uses the medium to its full potential while composing PIEOWA). More than anything else, though, the WI Museum’s event was successful (this is why PIEOWA works, too) because it was an event professing the strengths and needs for community while in community! Masquerading as a film simply discussing pie, PIEOWA works to impart the importance of community and togetherness in the modern world. 

On November 16, 2025, I observed multiple individuals leaving the WI Museum, remarking that PIEOWA was “[…] exactly what they needed today.” Anticipating the oncoming Thanksgiving break (and all of the pies that would come with it), and eagerly awaiting a break from my classes, I volunteered to run “See the Film, Meet the Filmmaker | PIEOWA: A PIECE OF AMERICA” at the WI Museum and attended PIEOWA with a companion. My PIEOWA partner, who’d known very little about pie before attending the showing, had this to say about the documentary experience when asked:

PIEOWA: A PIECE OF AMERICA delivers exactly what the title promises. Pie is, undoubtedly, a food associated with comfort and community, and this documentary homes in on that, exploring all the ways in which pie acts as one of the top comfort foods. By zooming in specifically on the state of Iowa, we see even more clearly how pie can bring people together, whether it be in small town diners, bike races across the state, farmers’ markets, or at the Iowa State Fair. Pie is nostalgic, it’s a means for competition, it’s a sweet pit-stop. This documentary details all the ways that pie can foster community and kindness, emphasizes why we need more connection with other people, and shows the audience how community is already integrated into Iowa itself. Pie is a significant part of American culture and, as PIEOWA suggests, so is Iowa.

I, too, adored PIEOWA. As I sat on a padded, white lawnchair and watched Howard’s film on the WI Museum’s newly installed car-sized flatscreen TV, I took notes for this review in my yellow Leuchturm1917 notebook. I observed everyone in the room around me engaged in the screen … engaged in Howard’s documentary. For the seventy-six minutes that PIEOWA featured, only two individuals strayed from their seats. Howard’s words had the room captivated. And then the documentary ended and the credits rolled, and as “Beth Howard – Director” flashed across the screen, a room full of seventy-plus guests and ten volunteers applauded. 

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Beth Howard’s PIEOWA: A PIECE OF AMERICA succeeds at drawing connections between some of the most fundamental facets of culture: land, food, and family. The presentation of PIEOWA at the WI Museum succeeded in presenting these ties because of the location in which it was centered. PIEOWA is (since it debuted in June of 2025) and will continue to be, for the foreseeable future, a traveling attraction. Its being finite is a fundamental part of its imposed character (created by Howard). This imposed character, though, demands that PIEOWA be presented in a community setting (which is so often a third space). And this community setting brings PIEOWA’s themes from the screen straight into the audience’s laps.

WI Museum’s event on November 16, 2025, “See the Film, Meet the Filmmaker | PIEOWA: A PIECE OF AMERICA” succeeded because it was held in the WI Museum, a rare third space in Macomb, where community flourishes and where individuals are able to simply enjoy the themes of PIEOWA: the power of community (and pie)!