Mount Olive getting ready for annual pickle festivities
By Steve Herring
Published in News on April 23, 2015 1:46 PM
Full Size
MOUNT OLIVE -- The 29th annual North Carolina Pickle Festival begins Friday night with a concert and carnival rides and continues all day Saturday with free entertainment, displays, activities, games and food.
The festival is sponsored by the Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce.
The band Spare Change will perform Friday night at the Mount Olive Airport. Gates open at 7 p.m., and the show will run from 8 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. At the same time the airport events are going on, there will be carnival rides and attractions that are geared toward children under the age of 12. The rides will be located at West Main and North Chestnut streets.
Saturday's activities starts at 9 a.m. Saturday on three different stages in downtown Mount Olive.
The Main Stage with its mixture of country, rock and pop is located at Center and Main streets. The Dancers Stage is located on the lawn of the First Baptist Church at the corner of North Center and West College streets. People are encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs.
Along with dancers, the area will be the site for a naturalization service with 30 people to become naturalized U.S. citizens.
The Praise Stage is located on Southwest Center Street.
Parking is allowed on side streets, but only on one side. Signs are in place to show where parking is not allowed. Handicapped parking is available at the old library on West James Street.
To avoid the traffic, visitors are urged to use the shuttle bus service from the University of Mount Olive to downtown. The buses will be running from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Saturday's events get off to an early start with the Cuke Patch 5K run at 8 a.m. followed by the Tour de Pickle bike ride that starts at 9:30 a.m.
The 29th annual N.C. Pickle Festival Car Show sponsored by the Wayne County Cruisers is expected to attract upward to 200 cars.
Children have their own area, the Tri-County EMC Children's Area that will be located in the vacant lot at the corner of East Main and South Center streets. The cost is $5 per child, but the child can enter and leave as often as they like during the day.
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. people can belt out songs at The Argus Idol Karaoke at the Argus Pickle Idol Zone at the Corner of North Center and East James Street.
At noon they can watch the eighth annual 55 Challenge. The goal is to wolf down 55 ounces of cheeseburger, with at least four toppings, a side of fries and a 24-ounce soft drink. This year, two professionals will take part in the competition. Three-time champion "Gentleman" Joe Menchetti will chow down against the No. 1 female independent competitive eater in the world, Molly Schuyler.
At 2 p.m. company mascots will line up for the Pickle Festival's first-ever Mascot Race. Potential competitors, such as Ollie Q. Cucumber, Andy Man, Trojan, Mr. Pig and TOBS will converge onto James Street and run for the glory.
The Messenger Action Alley, located along West James Street from North Center to North Chestnut streets, will include camel, pony and mechanical bull rides. It also will include a petting zoo, Water Wars, rock wall, Twin Spin Ice sales (for vendors) and the Got to Be NC Big Cart.