Bethesda Resident Takes Passion for Peeps on the Road

Bethesda resident Hillary Berman will drive nearly 700 miles this weekend in pursuit of something she’s been seeking for four years: Peep victory.

Yes; we mean those crystal-covered, bright pink and yellow (and delicious) marshmallows. Berman, along with her partner and co-diorama-artist , will be competing against 11 other finalists from around the country in the Chicago Tribune’s annual Peeps competition. The national event will take place in Chicago. They created a diorama called “Larry Peep Live,” a sugary setting that mimics the studio of Larry King, who is retiring this year. Both from marketing backgrounds, the duo will document their journey just as they said they’re taught at their jobs: they’ll Facebook, Tweet, and blog every moment.

(And before you call them crazy for traveling by car – consider what might happen to the fragile Peeps display when thrown around with airplane cargo).

Canedo is a resident of Oakton, Va., and you can follow the Peep artists' journey live and read more Peep coverage on Oakton Patch.

The winner’s prize? It’s unclear. Berman said she cares less about winning what will likely be some additional Peeps and is in it more so for enjoyment. Patch spoke with the Peep artist one-on-one as she shared her experiences with the competition.

Patch: Tell me a little bit about yourself and your involvement in the Bethesda community.

Hillary Berman: Well, I’ve lived in Bethesda for the past ten years. My husband and I moved within walking distance of downtown Bethesda; we love walking into town with our kids, to grab dinner, hang out, or go shopping. I love it here.

Patch: Can you describe your friendship with Kathleen, your Peep partner?

HB: Kathleen and I met a little over ten years ago when she hired me for a job at a technology company, and we just became friends right away. We both enjoy the sort of silly things … even though we only really worked together for a year, we’ve been really good friends since then.

Patch: What made you want to enter this contest?

HB: We’re just really creative and thought it was really fun. We like doing sort of creative, silly things together, and it just seemed like a really fun project. There are only so many friends in the world that think that it’s also fun to do something like that. So we’ve been entering it … this is our fourth year. The first two years that we entered, we only entered the Washington Post contest. We’re sort of on this mission to get finalist status, and we’ve been ignored every year until this year. This year, we entered five contests: the Post, the Tribune, and then newspapers in Syracuse and Seattle.

Patch: What’s the story behind your Peep diorama, “Larry Peep Live,” and why did you pick this idea?

HB: This year, we did Larry King interviewing Snoop Dogg. Originally, we had thought to do Larry King because he retires this year and it sort of pay a tribute to him. That same week, there was a congressman who called Snoop Dogg “Snoopy Snoopy Poop Dog,” … and it just seemed funny. We feel like there are a lot of ideas that we figured everyone was going to do – something about the Chilean miners, or last year, there were several that had to do with Obama’s inauguration. We have lots of good ideas, but we wanted to do something that was a little more creative and original than an idea that someone might have had.

Patch: So you’ve been competing for a few years. What were some of your past Peep dioramas?

HB: Last year, we did Blue Man group, and then the year before that we did “Whack-a-Peep,” which is sort of like whack-a-mole, the game. The first year we entered we did one that I still think is one of our best – it was themed around the writer’s strike at that time.

Patch: Are the dioramas judged more on physical appearance or their meanings?

HB: I think they judge on creativity and execution. They look for well-executed things; they always comment when people pay a lot of attention to detail and make sure that the scale is correct to fit the size of the peeps, they even pay attention to little details and backdrops and those types of things.  

Patch: On your Twitter account, you describe yourself as “a little bit insane” and an “aspiring foodie.” Would you say this project is the result of those characteristics?

HB: The little bit insane, yes. The aspiring foodie, not really. I really love to cook, but not I’m not sure I consider Peeps to be ultimate food. I don’t think Kathleen and I take ourselves too seriously – I think it’s just the result of having fun and doing something a little bit silly.

Patch: If you win, what will this mean for everyone back home in Bethesda?

HB: It’s been getting a lot of people around Bethesda, mostly people that we know, excited about it. And we’re happy to make it far more meaningful for Bethesda or Oakton … we had talked about a toy store in Oakton that’s thinking about having us come in and do Peeps dioramas with kids when we get home from Chicago. Just trying to get other people involved in doing fun things that you don’t necessarily have to have a real reason for doing.

Patch: One last question: Do you like Peeps?

HB: I do like Peeps. My mom is actually the one who truly loves Peeps. At one time, we gave her a membership in the Peeps fan club as a birthday gift, and last year for her 60th birthday we gave out chocolate-covered Peeps as a party favor. So I guess you could say I come by it honestly.

Follow Hillary and Kathleen's journey .