EXPLORE: Kind of a Big Dill

from WALTER Magazine- April 2020

by WALTER Magazine

LOCALS: Lifting Spirits

EXPLORE

KIND of a BIG DILL

The North Carolina Pickle Festival celebrates the savory cucumber with food, games and more

by NOOR AZEEM photography by MADELINE GRAY

The town of Mount Olive takes few things more seriously than pickles—they celebrate New Year’s Eve, for example, with a Pickle Drop at the University of Mount Olive (for this, a four-foot long pickle is lowered into a vat). The biggest pickle party of all, though, is The North Carolina Pickle Festival, held every April. It began 34 years ago to honor the role agriculture played in the community, particularly the storied history of the Mt. Olive Pickle Company. This year, the main festival takes place April 25. Guests can park for free at Kornegay Arena and take a free shuttle to the festival, which takes up the entire downtown area of Mount Olive. While a few prefestival activities are scheduled for April 24, it’s Saturday that’s the bigger dill. A first-time guest might want to start their visit with the Pickle Trail, which highlights “all things pickle,” according to co-chairperson Julie Beck. This is where one can find each year’s particular variety of pickle food. 2020’s newest item will be a pickle doughnut—a challenge put forth by Beck and her co-chair Lynn Williams, accepted by Mickey’s Pastry in Goldsboro. Last year’s new creation was Pickletown Lager, a pickle beer, by

Opposite page: Staff hand out samples. This page: Pickle prize winners and... a pickle!

R&R Brewery in Mount Olive. (Don’t worry, the lager will be back in 2020 so, as Beck says, “you can get pickled on pickles.”) Other pickle-centric food includes deep-fried pickles, pickle cotton candy, pickle popcorn, pickle ice cream, pickle snow cones and pickle pizza. And Mt. Olive Pickle Company will be giving out free actual pickles of all flavors all day long. Beck has been co-chairing this event for 24 years, so she has it down to a science. When the festival began, she says, they had about 8,000 attendees—twice the size of Mount Olive’s day-to-day population. This year, it’s up to 40,000. She works with Williams and a committee of about 25 people that starts planning for the next year about two weeks after the festival ends. Step one is to choose a theme and send the idea to the graphic design company. Often, this comes from Beck’s own life experience—she’s been to 89 countries. In the past, they’ve done a safari theme, an outback theme and even a rodeo theme. Stay tuned for an extra-special festival this year: it’s the 150th anniversary of the founding of the town of Mount Olive. Other activities highlighted on the pickle trail include the 75-mile Tour de Pickle, a pickle-eating contest (last year’s winner ate 11 dill pickles in five minutes!), a scavenger hunt for a jar of Mt. Olive pickles hidden in town and the Pickle Packing Production Challenge, in which contestants stuff cucumbers into jars as fast as possible. That one’s to get a feel for what the pickling process is over at Mt. Olive Pickle Company, where they do everything by hand. Beck’s personal favorite activity is the pickle train, with its barrels painted like pickles. “Honestly, I think my favorite thing is seeing the reaction of the people riding the pickle train. They just love it,” says Beck. “It’s so great to see a grandparent and a child sitting in a little pickle barrel together, or two siblings. They have

the best time.” You can even guess what time the train will pass through the festival for a chance at a pickle prize pack. In terms of less pickle-themed entertainment, there are three music sections: bands, praise and gospel music, and dance groups. The food includes Roaming magicians, clowns and jugglers deep-fried pickles, make their rounds through the festival, pickle cotton can- as well as a one-man dy, pickle popcorn, band many might recognize from the pickle ice cream, state fair. In addition to a petting pickle snow cones zoo, there are pony and pickle pizza. rides, camel rides and, from Fresh Start Rescue, snakes, lizards and geckos. “People love to put one of those giant snakes around their neck and get a picture taken,” says Beck. For the first year they’ll be having a butterfly garden, where guests can take photos with the butterflies and foliage. The event also features an artisan village with painters and sculptors. This year, an artist will

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spend about three hours working on a painting of the festival. From helicopter rides to mascot races (featuring the delightful Ollie Q. Cumber, Mt. Olive Pickle Company’s own mascot) to fruit carvers, the pleasures of the festival are as numerous as they are unique, which explains why Beck gets calls from folks as far as Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Arkansas asking how best to get there. Beck explained her vision of a fun, free, family event that spoke to the interests of everyone, and it’s been snowballing from there. She urges people to come out, saying, “They will have a dillightful time and they will relish all the experiences they have here.”

9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; free; 123 N Center St, Mt Olive; ncpicklefest.org