'It’s one of our busiest days!' Windsor bakeries and pizzerias celebrate math-based Pi Day

35 years after the first Pi Day was celebrated in San Francisco, many residents in Windsor, Ont. continued to recognize the math-based celebration.

Pi Day pies were in demand at local bakeries and pizzerias where people lined up to indulge on March 14.

“Absolutely,” exclaimed Vikki Columbus. “It's one of my favourite days of the year!”

Columbus was taking several pizza pies to a workplace party in Detroit where other pie-themed food was on the menu.

“I think it should be an official holiday,” Columbus said.

“Any day that promotes the sale of pizza is fine by me,” added Antonino’s Original Pizza owner, Joe Ciaravino.

From bakeries to pizzerias, Windsorites took part in the mathematical-based Pi Day celebrations on March 14, 2023.

Free slices of pizza were being given away at Antonino’s two new locations in Windsor and Leamington to commemorate the 3/14 occasion.

“It's the first year we've done it and hopefully it's the start of a new tradition,” Ciaravino explained. “I actually use that calculation in figuring out the area of a pizza from our personal size to our large because they're round and we're figuring out menu pricing. So it's actually useful!”

Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, or approximately 3.14. The mathematical concept has been around for thousands of years, and is celebrated annually on March 14.

The doors at Riverside Pie Cafe were open Tuesday, despite typically being closed.

“We're usually closed on Tuesdays but obviously it's Pi Day, we had to be opened,” owner Olivia Ryan said. “We have some different specials today, three slices for $14, kind of to play off the 3.14 saving $3.14 on whole pies, but we have both sweet and savory pie options available today. So a little bit for everybody.”

From bakeries to pizzerias, Windsorites took part in the mathematical-based Pi Day celebrations on March 14, 2023. Ryan told CTV News Windsor, “It's very steady. The first year we opened, Pi Day just kind of came at us. We didn't quite prepare for it or even think about it and each year it's grown from there. So, it's one of our busiest days. Just an excuse to eat more pie.”

“It’s really in a lot of places that you may not expect,” said Justin Lariviere, learning specialist and director at the University of Windsor Math and Stats Learning Centre. “Having a day where we get to have a bit of fun with math is nice. It’s usually something people avoid.”

Lariviere said student groups at the university celebrate Pi Day each year with a party, noting pi comes up in a lot of different areas of math and daily life.

“It’s not just circles. It’s triangles, it’s also in waves. It comes up a lot when we’re trying to approximate things,” he said.

Lariviere added, “Any excuse we get to celebrate and have a bit of fun and eat some pie, we’ll take it, and if we get to celebrate math at the same time that’s even better.”