Pickle Festival begins Friday
By Steve Herring
Published in News on April 22, 2017 11:02 PM
Full SizeMOUNT OLIVE -- Hike the Pickle Trail and discover pickle-flavored popcorn, snow cones and even free pickles.
Those with a real appetite for pickles can test themselves to see if they can down a bowl of kosher dill pickles in five minutes and win a $30 cash prize.
Pickles are just a good excuse to have a community festival and Mount Olive, home of the Mt. Olive Pickle Co., is preparing to welcome tens of thousands to this weekend's 31st annual North Carolina Pickle Festival.
Sponsored by the Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce, the festival will be held from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday night, April 28, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 29, downtown.
"Planning the North Carolina Pickle Festival is a year-around process and, at times, quite challenging, but nothing that Lynn Williams (festival co-chairman) and I can not handle," said Julie Beck, Chamber president and festival co-chairman. "Sometimes, we just have to pull our creative hats down a bit tighter and get the wheels turning about how to incorporate unique events into our festival or how to solve a problem.
"I love the challenge of keeping the North Carolina Pickle Festival fresh and exciting so we can be one of the best festivals in the state. When the thousands of people show up in downtown Mount Olive the weekend of Pickle Festival, and I see the smiles, hear the laughs and observe people having a DILLightful time, it makes it all worth it. So, get ready for another amazing North Carolina Pickle Festival this weekend."
The two days are packed with free entertainment, events and activities for all ages as well as plenty of food and arts and crafts vendors, and, of course, free pickles
Friday night's event boasts a new format including the Cuke Patch 5K Glo Run, but keeps the traditional carnival rides and live music.
The Snow Hill-based Dakota Blue band -- presented by Ribeyes Steakhouse and Katie Country 97.7 -- will perform from 7 to 10 p.m. in front of the steakhouse, 112 N. Center St.
Registration for the glo run opens at 7:30 p.m. The run will begin 30 minutes later.
As of press time Sunday, 70 people had registered and more are expected by Friday, Mrs. Williams said.
The popular pay one price, $12, carnival rides will run from 5 to 9 p.m. in the parking lot at the corner of West Main and North Chestnut streets across from Steele Memorial Library.
Brinkley Entertainment, based in Walnut Cove, will again be providing the rides.
On Saturday, the rides operate under a ticket system, with a certain number of tickets required for each ride.
One of the first events Saturday will be the annual naturalization ceremony at 9 a.m. at town hall when more than a dozen people will become U.S. citizens.
Another early event is the Tour de Pickle -- presented by Wayne UNC Health Care -- a three-stage bicycle race that takes riders on picturesque routes throughout Wayne, Duplin and Sampson counties. Riders can participate in either the 25-mile, 53-mile or 75-mile race depending on their level of experience.
The races are staggered in five-minute increments with the 75-mile riders leaving the Mount Olive Pickle Company Distribution Center at 9:30 a.m. Every rider will be on their respective course within 10 minutes of the start.
Pickles are the big "dill" for the festival, but there will be plenty of vendors offering a variety of foods.
For those who want something a little different, First South Bank and the Goldsboro News-Argus are sponsoring the festival's second annual chili cookoff sanctioned by the International Chili Society.
The cookoff will be held at the corner of East James and North Center streets from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Saturday.
There will be three stages of entertainment throughout the day -- 107.9 WNCT Main Stage (North Center Street at Southern Bank); the Praise Stag (Southwest Center Street) presented by Mount Olive First Pentecostal Holiness Church, WFMC and SAVEDNews.com; and the Mount Olive Tribune Dancers Stage (First Baptist Church lawn at the corner of West College and North Center streets)
Artisans from all over eastern North Carolina will be able to showcase their talents and creations during the second annual University of Mount Olive Artisan Village.
Items will be on sale as well
The village will be set up under a tent in the parking lot of Southern Bank, at the corner of East Main and South Center streets from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Mount Olive Girl Scout Troop 389 children's area will be located on Chestnut Street between the veteran's memorial and amusement rides, across from the library.
A petting zoo will be provided by 5-Star Wilkie Farm based in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. The petting zoo is free, but there is the option to purchase food to feed the animals. Cost for that is $2 a cup.
He also brings six ponies, for the pony rides. The charge for those is $5.
The petting zoo and the pony rides can be found in the parking area directly behind the Chamber of Commerce office.
And then there are the camel rides, which are $7, and that will be offered on James Street.
The Wayne County Cruisers car club is expecting between 100 and 200 cars to be at its annual free car show on North Center Street.
With so much going on during the day the Chamber has come up with the North Carolina Pickle Festival app and Pickle Trail to help festivalgoers navigate a crowded downtown to find events and activities, not to mention anything pickle related.
"So the festival app actually provides map of the festival footprint," Mrs. Williams said. "You can click on the different icons to tell you what is going on in a particular place -- like where the restrooms are; where the ATMs are; what's the schedule on each of the entertainment stages; what's the schedule on the News-Argus Corner."
The app can be downloaded from the North Carolina Pickle Festival's new webpage.
The Pickle Trail also will be available on the app. It will be publicized by signs and with handouts that will be available at the information booth on North Center Street.
The first-ever pickle-eating contest is set for noon at the News-Argus Corner, located at the intersection of North Center and East James streets.
The festival is accepting up to 10 participants, five men and five women, prior to Saturday, April 29.
Participants can enter on a first-come, first served basis by calling the Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce at 919-658-3113, or by emailing their interest to president@mountolivechamber.com.
Organizers will hold open a minimum of one male and one female slot for the day of the festival, to give festival-goers a chance to enter.
Also new is the Got to Be NC Pavilion that will feature 13 vendors offering a variety of products including candy, cookies and barbecue sauces and rubs.
It will be located in the alleyway behind the Chamber office.
This year's North Carolina Pickle Festival Mascot Race will start at 2 p.m. and span one block on James Street, opposite the tractor show.
Pickle Festival T-shirts are available and feature the Game of Gherkins logo. The shirts come in light blue, kiwi green, daisy yellow and red and match the design.
Youth T-shirts are $12 each and come in 2T, 3T and 4T for toddlers and small, medium and large for youths.
Adult T-shirts are $15 for sizes small to extra-large; $17 for 2X and $18 for 3X.
Caps and visors are $15 each.
The shirts have a small logo on the front and a large logo on the back.
Finding a place to park downtown could be an issue on Saturday.
Parking will be available on streets off the downtown area, but it is limited to just one side of a street. The sides were no parking is allowed is marked by no parking signs.
Festivalgoers are asked to mindful of parking and not to block streets and driveways, office Chief Tommy Brown said.
Some paid parking will be available both Friday and Saturday.
Free parking will be available Saturday at the University of Mount Olive's Kornegay Arena on the University of Mount Olive campus where a free shuttle will be available.
The shuttle runs about every 15 minutes..
For more information, check out the N.C. Pickle Festival special section included with today's Messenger or go to www.ncpicklefest.org or contact the Chamber office at 919-658-3113.