Friday night events will kick off April's N.C. Pickle Festival
By Steve Herring
Published in News on March 19, 2018 5:50 AM
MOUNT OLIVE -- Saturday will continue to be the main draw for the three-day, 32nd annual North Carolina Pickle Festival taking place April 27-29 in downtown Mount Olive.
The list of events for the Friday night kickoff continues to grow, however, and this year is being referred to as a mini-festival in its own right.
All of the activities will be centered on the 200 block of North Center Street.
"I think the whole Friday night thing is cool," festival Co-chairman Lynn Williams said. "I think we have sort of named it N.C. Pickle Festival Friday Night Downtown. Now we are starting to put together enough events that it is a draw in and of itself.
"You have the music. You have the carnival rides. We have the chili cook-off, and we have the Cuke Patch run. We have a set of sponsors who have agreed to come on board for that on Friday night."
Plans are still being finalized, and last Monday night Williams updated members of the Pickle Festival Committee on the activities.
The festival has enough sponsorships in place to cover the night's expenses, Williams said.
For the second year in a row, the Friday night free concert will be held downtown on North Center Street from 7 to 10 p.m.
Dance music will be played from 6 to 7 p.m., and from 9 to 10 p.m. In between, The Tazz Band will perform.
It also will be the second year that the Cuke Patch 5K run will be a glow run and held downtown as well from 8 to 9 p.m.
Carnival rides will once again be set up in the Steele Memorial Library parking lot Friday and Saturday, April 27 and 28.
On Friday night, festivalgoers can buy a $12 wristband and ride as many rides as they want.
Tri-County EMC will be selling concessions at the rides.
Ribeyes on North Center Street will be open and will offer a beer garden.
The town has an ordinance prohibiting open alcohol containers on town streets. Last year there were some issues with people coming outside to watch the concert while still drinking.
It will be up to the town to figure out how it will handle that issue this year.
The annual chili cook-off is normally held on the Saturday of the festival weekend.
But its popularity has grown to the point that it will be expanded this year from one day to two. New categories have been added as well.
The cook-off on Friday night will be for homestyle chili. Saturday's cook-off will feature red traditional chili and salsa.
The Pickle Festival Committee is looking at two different ways festivalgoers can sample the chili.
One suggestion is to sell $1 tickets to allow a person to sample chili at one booth. The second is to sell $5 wristbands that would allow wearers to sample all the booths as often as they want.
At the same time on Friday, many of the food vendors will be setting up for Saturday, Williams said.
But they will not be open on Friday night.
It is just a lot of activity going on Friday night before Saturday, and it is all about bringing people downtown, Williams said.
"I think this year is an opportunity to build on what we started last year," she said. "I think it will be even bigger and better in terms of participation and attendance."
The award-winning festival, sponsored by the Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce, was most-recently named a Top-20 Event in the Southeast, which encompasses several different states
Check the N.C. Pickle Festival website, www.ncpicklefest.org, for updates for the event.
Registration for the Cuke Patch 5K is available online, too.
For more information, contact the Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce at 919-658-3113.