For the 61st year, the Columbus Lowndes County Antiquities Society is preparing for the Lee Home Country Store Bake Sale, helping families in the city prepare for their Thanksgiving meals.

Judith Jarrett, chairman for the bake sale, said this year’s bake sale includes more than 250 items for sale, making the sale a “big, big production.”

“It’s an all volunteer group, and we bake for this bake sale every year,” Jarrett said. “We have cakes, pies, cookies, candies, canned goods, jams, jellies, cheese straws, biscuits, homemade bread — everything has to be homemade.”

Jarrett said this year’s bake sale is kicking off at 10 a.m. on Tuesday at the Lee Home, 516 Seventh St. N., next to the Columbus Lowndes Library.

Rita Douglass, president of the antiquities society, said shoppers will be asked to take a number before the sale begins and then to enter in numerical order. During the sale, tours will also be available of the museum until noon.

Despite volunteers making hundreds of baked goods and other items to prepare for the sale, Jarrett said the food tends to go fast once the sale opens.

“We’re usually completely sold out by (noon),” Jarrett said.

Douglass has been a part of the bake sale for about 30 years. She said society members often bake and bring the same items every year, as a matter of tradition. Shoppers also tend to return to the sale every year, bringing familiar faces back to the Lee Home.

“My favorite part is seeing the people come in to buy and seeing the wonderful desserts on the table, and seeing how beautiful the table looks with all the cakes and pies and the breads on it,” Douglass said.

This year, Douglass said, the bake sale also includes a raffle for a centerpiece designed by local florist and artist Ralph Null.

Douglass said all the money raised by the bake sale goes toward the maintenance and upkeep of the Lee Home by the society, as the building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

“This last year, we helped with the repairs to the roof over part of the porch, for the new railings, for the railings to be painted, for the wheelchair ramp,” Douglass said. “We paid money for the wheelchair ramp, to be handicap accessible, and for painting on the inside. The upkeep is a lot. … And the money is all given to that.”

“We love our historic Lee Home,” Jarrett said of the building. “It’s just precious to us.”

While the fundraiser benefits the society’s restoration of the Lee Home, Jarrett said the sale also allows the society to share delicious traditional foods with others.

“These are recipes that have been handed down for generations,” Jarrett said.

In anticipation of the bake sale, Jarrett shared her grandmother’s pecan pie recipe, saying it is one of the many things that will be available at the Lee Home on Tuesday.

JUDITH JARRETT’S GRANDMA’S PECAN PIE RECIPE

Ingredients
3 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 pinch Kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups pecans chopped
1 9-inch pie crust
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup corn syrup (white or light – I used Karo)

Directions
■ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place your unbaked pie crust in the freezer. You can use a homemade crust or a store-bought one.
■ Toast the pecans for a few minutes in the oven.
■ Mix the eggs well, and add the Karo syrup and butter.
■ Add the sugars, vanilla, and salt. Beat well.
■ Add in the pecans and pour into the icy cold crust.
■ Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. You may need to let it bake for 5 more minutes. The pie will still be jiggly when it is done baking.