Vivian Howard of Deep Run, well-known chef, restaurateur, author and Emmy-winning television host, is scheduled to compete Saturday, April, 26, during the 39th annual N.C. Pickle Festival’s Pickle-Eating Contest. (Courtesy photo)
Joyel Miller of Mocksville reacts after winning last year’s N.C. Pickle Festivals Pickle-Eating Contest. Presenting the award is festival Co-chair Lynn Williams. Miller crammed down nine kosher dill pickles. She was among the 90 applicants for the 24 slots in contest Each participant received a tray of 20 Mt. Olive Pickle Co. whole Kosher Dills. Participants were given 5 minutes to eat as many as they could. This year Vivian Howard of Deep Run, well-known chef, restaurateur, author and Emmy-winning television host, is scheduled to compete. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Could well-known chef, restaurateur, author and Emmy-winning television host Vivian Howard be adding pickle-eating champion to her long list of accolades?
Howard, a native of the Deep Run community near Kinston and founder of famed small town fine dining destination Chef & the Farmer and more recently The Counter @ Chef & the Farmer, is expected to compete next month in the N.C. Pickle Festival’s fan-favorite Pickle-Eating Contest.
And with just six weeks remaining before tens of thousands of people are expected to flock to the 39th annual N.C. Pickle Festival it is crunch time, festival Co-chair Julie Beck said during the Monday night, March 17 planning session.
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 in downtown Mount Olive from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, April 25, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 26.
The session focused on a variety of issues including safety, traffic control and parking, marketing and the need to remind people not to bring their pets to the festival. Mount Olive fire and police officials as well as Wayne County emergency management and law enforcement, including Sheriff Larry Pierce, attended the meeting.
“While we are talking marketing, I don’t know if I want to tell you this or not,” said Co-chair Lynn Williams. “But I was looking at the Facebook dashboard for the Pickle Festival Facebook page and Instagram this was last week, which I am still stunned.
“For the past 28 days, we had had 7.9 million impressions. So I am really, really glad to see all of you fire and rescue. Social media has taken on a life of its own.”
Eight million people are not going to show up — it is just going to feel like it, Williams said.
“Pickles are a thing,” she added. “People just think pickles are cool, and they are tagging their friends. It is amazing to see.
“But that bodes — I think we are going to see another big crowd this year.”
Her news elicited physical reactions from some of the first responders.
Co-chair Julie Beck said she had received a phone call from Howard’s agent who said that Howard is coming to the festival.
“Woo, I am so excited,” Beck said. “So, I am working with her agent, and we are putting her (Howard) as one of our pickle eaters.”
Beck said the agent will take the ideas back to Howard and will call back.
Howard hosted the PBS television series “A Chef’s Life” from 2013 to 2018. According to Howard’s Wikipedia page, the show focused “on the ingredients and cooking traditions of eastern North Carolina — using the backdrop of the Chef & the Farmer restaurant in Kinston, North Carolina, which Howard co-owned with her then-husband and business partner, artist Ben Knight.
“In 2014, Howard was the first woman since Julia Child to win a Peabody Award for a cooking program. In 2017, she authored the cookbook-memoir ‘Deep Run Roots,’ and in 2020 ‘This Will Make It Taste Good: A New Path to Simple Cooking.’”
Festival updates
Mount Olive police have implemented a new protocol that no vehicles, with the exception of emergency vehicles, will be allowed in the festival footprint between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 26.
During Monday’s session, the committee discussed the use of concrete barricades to block off some streets, making North Chestnut Street one way and using barricades in a serpentine manner to slow traffic.
It was announced that handicapped parking will be located at the First Baptist Church Christian Life Center parking lot and the parking lot on the north side of the church.
Handicap parking also will be available at the headquarters for the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists Churches, 201 W. James St.
Members also discussed the need for signs and notices on social media to remind people to leave their pets at home.
On Aug. 8, 2023, by a 5-0 vote, the Mount Olive Town Board approved an animal control ordinance prohibiting pets at the popular festival. Service and guide animals are exempt from the ordinance.
The ordinance was requested by festival and Chamber officials because of public safety concerns and the welfare of the pets.
The ordinance reads in part, “It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, business or corporation to have in their possession or control any animal, dog, cat, horse, mule, donkey, cattle, sheep, goats, chicken, snake or domestic fowl during the NCPF within the confines of the downtown business district and/or any event being conducted as part of the NCPF.
“The prohibition in this section does not apply to animals that are part of an authorized event or to service dogs, guide dogs or hearing dogs when accompanied by a blind or deaf person.”
It adds that violators may be charged with a misdemeanor and subject to a fine under the town’s uniform civil penalty ordinance.
For more information and a complete schedule of events, check elsewhere in this magazine or visit ncpicklefest.org.
