Competitions enliven Pickle Festival
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on April 30, 2017 12:20 AM
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Brandi Hill of Kinston competes in the pickle eating contest at the North Carolina Pickle Festival Saturday in Mount Olive. The contest was a first this year, replacing the Five Five Challenge. Hill was the winner of the women's competition.
MOUNT OLIVE -- Tucked into a small corner of the 31st annual North Carolina Pickle Festival was a multitude of competitions, each more fearsome than the last.
Competition got underway with a homestyle chili cookoff, with about a half dozen teams competing for the prize -- $300 and a trophy.
It ran from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the winner being announced on the heels of a crowd-favorite competition -- the Mascot Race.
The spirit of competition was so high, even a husband and wife competed against each other.
Mike Singleton and his wife, Sarah, shared a booth, but cooked two different types of chili.
Sarah's had two different types of beans, Mike's had one. Hers was spicy, his was more tame.
They came from Havelock, and one team came from as far away as Charlotte.
But at the end of the competition, Mike Singleton came out victorious -- over his wife and the rest of the competition.
Singleton swept first place with his homestyle chili.
He said he and his wife have been competing in chili cookoff competitions for about nine to 10 years, and have competed in an international chili cookoff three times, as recently as last year.
Finishing in second behind Mike Singleton was Jabe Largen, who won $150 and a plaque.
In third was Nathan Haskins, who also won people's choice award. He was awarded $75 and a plaque.
While Jeff Pitta did not place, he won the award for best booth at the competition.
Before the winners of the cookoff were announced, the same corner at James and Center Streets turned into a scene of mascots sprinting and battling it out for first place in three separate heats.
The Mascot Race was split into two initial heats of four competitors.
In the first heat was the Texas Roadhouse Armadillo. Chick-Fil-A Cows, Time out Teddy of the Exchange Club and Ollie of the Mount Olive Pickle Company.
The Armadillo came out on top in that heat.
The second heat involved the Piggly Wiggly Pig, the McDonald's Hamburglar, the Wilson Tobs Super Slugger and the Liberty Tax Statue of Liberty.
The Hamburglar stole first place in that heat from everyone.
And then, in a race for the ages, the Hamburglar squared off with Texas Roadhouse's Armadillo.
Try as he might, the Armadillo wasn't quite fast enough, and the Hamburglar stole the show and won the trophy for first-place overall.
The third competition of the day happened at noon in the same area, in which roughly a dozen competitors chowed down to see who could eat the most pickles in five minutes.
The competition was divided into guys and girls. Brandi Hill of Kinston won the girls division, while 30-year-old James Mignone of Goldsboro swept first place for the guy's division.
He said he didn't do anything special to prepare, but he just liked pickles.
Mignone managed to eat nine-and-a-half whole pickles in five minutes.
"It was very salty, and I probably won't be able to eat pickles for a while," Mignone said.