With just a month remaining before Mount Olive is expected to welcome tens of thousands of visitors to the 37th annual N.C. Pickle Festival, organizers are wrapping up their planning.
Coordinated by the North Carolina Pickle Festival, Inc. in partnership with the Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce, the award-winning festival will be held from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, April 28, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 29, in downtown Mount Olive.
Early on organizers had hoped to work out a way to expand the festival’s footprint in order to spread out the festival crowd.
As late as just a week ago those efforts appeared to be near fruition. However, in just the past few days negotiations with a property owner to use the extra space have fallen through.
That planning hiccup was announced during the Monday night, March 27, meeting of the N.C. Pickle Festival Planning Committee.
“We kind of backtracked on our expansion of the festival for the most part,” said Julie Beck, Chamber president and festival co-chair. “But there is a lot of things that we have confirmed.”
One of those things is the addition of a second free parking and free shuttle location at the Bobby Denning Shopping Center parking lot on North Breazeale Avenue (U.S. 117 Business).
Parking and shuttles will be available again this year at the University of Mount Olive on Henderson Street as well.
Shuttles will run about every 20 minutes and riders will be dropped off and picked up on North Center Street near R&R Brewing, the festival’s official welcome center.
Organizers have pretty much stopped looking for any special events to add to an already impressive list, Beck said.
“Our big deadline is April 1 for marketing purposes, sponsor purposes, event purposes, vendor purposes,” she said. “It’s not to say we can’t take any more, but they may not be publicized because we’ve got to have a deadline.
“And the deadline is fast approaching this week.”
Vendors will check in between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., Saturday, April 29, at Mount Olive Family Medicine Center, 201 N. Breazeale Ave.
As of Monday night meeting, 208 people had applied to be a vendor.
“I’m thinking we’ll have around 150 give or take — 208, that is unbelievable” Beck said.
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The main festival day can be overwhelming with its jam-packed schedule of free entertainment, massive classic car show, events and activities, food and arts and crafts vendors, pickle-centric events and of course, free Mt. Olive pickles.
Organizers have finalized several ways to lessen that feeling by helping festival-goers better navigate the festival.
That includes a new and much larger festival map, Beck said.
“It’s going to be a tear-off sheet,” she said. “We are going to have big stacks of these tear-off sheets that people can stop by the information booth (in front of the Chamber office, 123 N. Center St.) and our security booths and tear off one and carry that with them.
“Because it’s going to be larger, I think it’s going to be 11 by 17 (inches), we will be able to put a whole lot more detail in there which would be very helpful. The same company is creating us some QR codes. They will be on sandwich board signs. They will be around the festival. You’ll be able to walk up to it and scan the QR code and pull the map up on your phone as well.”
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The Pickle Eating Contest is attracting a lot of attention, Beck said.
It will be held at noon on April 29 at the main stage area located in the Southern Bank Parklet on South Center Street.
Participants will receive a tray of 20 Mt. Olive whole Kosher Dills and will be given 5 minutes to eat as many as they can.
“As of Monday night (March 27) we had 84 people who are interested and we are only going to pick 24 — 84 people,” Beck said. “I’m sure that has changed which is amazing to think that as of Monday we had 84 people signed up who want an opportunity to participate in the Pickle Eating Contest.”
Contestants will be selected by lottery, she explained.
“We will pick out 24 people, and they will get an email I think by April 15. Then if they can’t participate, they need to let us know because then we will go back and select probably another eight to 10 as alternates that we can go down that list and contact those folks.
“So clearly, there’s an interest in this. I don’t know what we might change with 24 because we never would think we would have 84 people.”
A pickle ball tournament will be played Friday and Saturday on the University of Mount Olive tennis courts. The winners will receive a unique prize.
“We have ordered our own Pickle Festival-themed pickle ball rackets,” Beck said. “Those will go to the winning teams. So they will get a pickle ball racket that says N.C. Pickle Festival which is really kind of cool.”
Changes have been made in Tour de Pickle bicycle ride that will be held Saturday morning, April 29.
‘We’ve been working with Fythe’s Bicycle Shop out of New Bern,” Beck said. “They have helped us to create three new routes for the Tour de Pickle that will only be in Wayne County and Duplin County.
“The reason we want to do that is because we wanted to get away from crossing over (U.S.) 117 since there’s so much traffic there. So those new routes are being finalized for the 25-, 50- and 75-mile routes, and we will get those maps soon.”
Thus far 71 riders have signed up for the Tour de Pickle while 20 have signed up for the Cuke Patch 5K Glow Run that will be held from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, April 28, near Ribeyes Steakhouse on North Center Street.
Beck said she expects more people will register for all three events.
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Saturday’s entertainment is mostly confirmed.
Performing on the main stage will be: TCB (Throwback Collaboration Band), R&B, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.; Rivermist, a top-40 band, 11:25 a.m. to 1:25 p.m.; Wild Ride, country music, 1:40 p.m. to 3:40 p.m.; and British Invasion Band, a Beatles tribute band, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The stage is located at the Southern Bank Parklet.
The dancers stage will be located at the corner of North Center and West College streets.
Performing will be: Mrs. Robins Academy of Dance, 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.; In Motion Entertainment, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.; The Arts Company, 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.; Desiree Autrey’s Academy of Dance, 11:30 a.m. to noon; Studio 33 Dance Company, noon to 12:45 p.m.; Miss Goldsboro & Court, 12:45 p.m. to 1 p.m.; Zack King, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.; Spotlight Theatre Company, 2 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.; to be announced, 2:15 p.m.
The praise stage, located in the alleyway behinds the Chamber of Commerce office, will feature performances from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The lineup is expected to be announced soon.
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New this year is an art show by the Arts Council of Wayne County in the First Baptist Church fellowship hall, probably on the second flow, Beck said.
The Arts Council is trying to set up a Mount Olive location and the art show is kind of a kickoff to that, she added.
“Even though it’s not officially confirmed yet that they are coming to Mount Olive, it’s pretty positive it’s going to happen,” Beck said.
“So this is their way of doing that. So they’ll be set up down there which would is kind of nice. And the David John Aaron Historical Museum will be open that day, and I guess just the normal hours.”
Also new, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services is partnering with Goshen Medical and will going to be giving vaccinations at the festival.
The location has not yet be decided.
“We have come up with a QR code for people who want to be a volunteer,” Beck said. “We are looking for 100 volunteers.”
The QR code will be on the festival website, ncpicklefest.org.
Currently, packets of information are being mailed to area high schools, the University of Mount Olive, Wayne Community College and James Sprunt Community College and flyers will be put around other places, Beck said.
People can scan the code to see the different volunteer opportunities, she added.
For more information and a full schedules, visit ncpicklefest.org.
