Wrangell hasn’t had a Fourth of July without pies in decades, and volunteers with Beta Sigma Phi will ensure this year is just as fruitful as past celebrations.

They are asking for the community’s help to fill up the tables at the annual pie sale, which raises money to buy teddy bears that are given to children in traumatic circumstances like emergency hospitalization, disasters such as house fires or boating accidents.

The sale will start at 8 a.m. on July 4 in the covered area at Arctic Chiropractic on Lynch Street and will run until the pies are gone.

Volunteer bakers are asked to bring their pies to the sale between 8 and 10 a.m.

All fruit pies are particularly popular, and the only caveat organizers put on donations is no cream pies allowed. Due to health concerns, all pies must be baked, which eliminates pies with pudding and cream fillings that have not undergone the heat of an oven.

Strawberry rhubarb has been the most popular pie over the years, said volunteer Olinda White.

Customers should not look for savory pies at the sale— people generally don’t donate those, she said.

Members of Beta Sigma Phi bring in their own creations to start the morning, said volunteer Alice Rooney, and then depend on community members to keep the tables full of multiple offerings.

Slices sell for $5 each; whole pies go for $30.

“We usually sell out early afternoon,” Rooney said. “Every pie we sell buys a teddy bear.”

Though the annual pie sale started in the 1930s, Beta Sigma Phi took it over about 40 years ago. It’s been a fundraiser for teddy bears the past 25 years. The plush animals are donated to the hospital, fire department and dental clinic to distribute.

Beta Sigma Phi in an international service sorority that dates back to 1931.

For more information, contact White at 907-874-3078 or Rooney at 907-305-0007.