Chamber enjoys busy, successful 2023, same expected for 2024

The Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce enjoyed a successful and busy 2023, and 2024 promises more of the same, Chamber President Julie Beck said.

Beck provided an overview of 2023 during the Chamber’s annual banquet and awards ceremony held Feb. 6, at the Southern Wayne Country Club.

“We hosted several Mount Olive Mingles,” she said. “Our focus was on downtown development and revitalization. Mount Olive was awarded three grants, and we, the Chamber, have been working very closely with them (revitalization committee) to try to get our downtown revitalized.

“We are looking at a streetscape plan, using the same people Goldsboro has used. We are looking at adding a farmers market for our downtown, and we are working with a company out of Alabama called Retail Strategies to bring more businesses to our downtown.”

As such the Mount Olive Mingles have been very much focused on trying to educate the community, Beck added.

“We have had lots of meetings throughout the year to let everybody give input about what they think our downtown should look like,” she said.

“We are excited the Mount Olive Chamber has been an active part of all of this.”

Last year the 37th annual N.C. Pickle Festival attracted a record crowd of 50,000, she said.

It was Beck’s 28th year as head of the festival.

“If you had told me 28 years ago that we would bring in 50,000 people to Mount Olive, I would have said no way,” she said. “But I am telling you, they are coming from all over the United States to be part of our event.

“It is truly a big ‘dill.’

A unique festival theme is selected each year, usually based on some of her travels, Beck added.

She joked that in 2023 she went rogue and told festival Co-chairman Lynn Williams she would have to wait until theme was revealed before she would know what it would be.

In the summer of 2022, Beck traveled to London to see some of Queen Elizabeth’s jubilee celebration.

That started her thinking about a royalty theme.

The festival theme design had a pickle king holding a pickle scepter, wearing a pickle crown. It included the phrase “Keep calm — pickle on.”

People went bonkers over the design, she said.

Last May as the coronation of Prince Charles began, Beck mailed a Pickle Festival T-shirt to Buckingham Palace.

“I wrote a letter and I said, ‘Congratulations on your coronation’, explained about the Pickle Festival and said, ‘please enjoy this Pickle Festival T-shirt.’”

Beck said she figured she would never hear a word back.

However, three months later while going through mail at her office she saw an envelope with a return address of Buckingham Palace.

“Believe it or not, I got a thank you card, I got a letter from Buckingham Palace, specifically thanking me for the Pickle Festival T-shirt,” Beck said.

The 2023 N.C. Pickle Festival was a big success and won three awards during the North Carolina Association of Festival & Events Showfest, she added.

“We were named best in the state for the best map design,” she said holding up the colorful map of downtown showing events and activities locations and schedules. “I am pretty sure every festival in North Carolina is going to have a similar design this year.”

The festival also won best poster for the pickle king design.

“The third award we received was a very special one because we nominated one entity in our community to be named Sponsor of the Year,” Beck said.

The sponsor was Ryan Roberts of R&R Brewing.

Beck asked Roberts to come forward to accept the award.

Along with the Mingles and Pickle Festival, Beck said the Chamber’s reverse raffle was a success and that the Chamber also hosted the third annual Pickles, Pigs and Swigs.

Over those three years the event has raised about $30,000 that is being donated to the Mount Olive Community Development program that is part of the revitalization efforts.

“So we are excited about that partnership that we have with them,” she said. “We can’t wait to see what happens when our downtown gets revitalized.”

In December, the annual Christmas activities were held, and this past year the Exchange Club of Mount Olive approached the Chamber about being involved in the tree lighting, Beck continued.

“Man, did we really step up our game,” she said. “We had the most people ever who came to our tree lighting.”

The Friday night events included tractor rides, hay rides, Pickle Train rides.

The town also had the second-largest Christmas parade it has ever had, too, she said.

“So, we have had a successful year as a Chamber,” Beck said. “We appreciate those of you who are Chamber members. We appreciate your support and all that you do for us.”

Beck said people often ask her what she does. Her response is that she wears many hats.

“Not only do I represent the Chamber, but I also go to the N.C. Rural Center Conference to represent our community,” she said. “I go to the N.C. Coast Host meeting because the Pickle Festival has a huge tourism impact.”

Beck said she was surprised just a few weeks ago to receive an invitation to a tourism meeting.

At that N.C. Coast Host annual banquet she was awarded the Tourism Impact Award for her many contributions promoting tourism in our area.

“It was a great honor,” she said.

Beck said she also is an honorary commander for Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and attends many events on the base.

This past fall she was selected as one of 15 local base representatives to visit the Pentagon.

“I was the only Mount Olive person chosen,” she said. “I was so excited. It was an amazing experience to able to represent Mount Olive and Wayne County and most importantly, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.”

There is a lot happening in Mount Olive already in 2024, the Chamber has kicked off the Mount Olive Mingle, again focusing on downtown revitalization, Beck said.

The goal is to keep the community informed and to get its input about what it wants the downtown to look like, she said.

Beck asked Chamber board member Edward Olive to talk about a new entrepreneurial series that kicked off Thursday, Feb. 8.

Olive said he, Beck and past board member Carrie Shields had been part of the Rural Center Homegrown Leadership program several years back.

It was a virtual program because it was held during the COVID pandemic, he said.

After completing the program a group of people agreed they could not stop and questioned how they could keep it going.

“So we had a feasibility study to talk about business incubators, different ideas, what we could bring in to go with downtown revitalization and other initiatives going on in town,” Olive said.

The entrepreneurial series of five workshop is the first stage in moving that forward, he added.

The workshops will be held on Thursday, March 14, April 11, May 2 and May 30 at 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. each day.

“You don’t have to come to all of them, but we certainly encourage you to,” Olive said. “The whole goal is to bring more businesses and more opportunities to our town, downtown area and beyond so that we can continue to grow this area within Wayne County.”

Melissa Kilpatrick, incoming Chamber board chairman, thanked everyone for attending the event.

“I would like to say a big thank you for your support for coming out tonight,” she said. “It is events like this and participation such as this that allows the Chamber to do community projects and focus on businesses large and small in the Mount Olive area.

“One thing I would like for us to focus on this year is to support our businesses, really get to know them, embrace them when you have the opportunity. We recommend that you take your business to a local small or large business owner.”

In closing, Beck said the evening would not have been possible without its sponsors — presenting sponsor Wayne County Development Alliance, Lauren Branch with Lauren Branch Photography, Circle Florist and Gifts of Newton Grove and Adams Beverages.

The meal was catered by Farmhouse Cafe and Bakery of Newton Grove.