It’s baaaack! The North Carolina Pickle Festival will be in person this year, and we couldn’t be more excited!!
Co-chairs Julie Beck and Lynn Williams gave us all the details to share with you because we know this one is going to be a very big dill!
This marks the 36th year of the NCPF! It started in 1986 as a way to celebrate the role of agriculture in Mount Olive with an emphasis on cucumbers and pickles! The event has grown from 4,000 attendees to 40,000 attendees, and after a Facebook post went viral recently, they are anticipating even more attendees this year!
North Carolina Pickle Festival
When? Friday, April 22, 5-10 p.m. & Saturday, April 23, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Where? Downtown Mount Olive, NC
Feeling Active? You won’t want to miss the Cuke Patch 5K Glow Run Friday night for an untimed run where costumes are encouraged! If you feel more comfortable on a bike, you’ll want to sign up for the Tour de Pickle Bike Ride Saturday morning! They even have a pickleball tournament!
Love Pickles? Of course, there are lots of pickle foods including pickle slushies, pickle peanuts, pickle snow cones, and fried pickles, and they’ll have all of the other festival fan favorites too!
North Carolina Pickle Festival & CCM
It’s been such a pleasure to see even a tiny bit of the behind-the-scenes! Julie has served as chairperson for a total of 27 years, and this is the 12th year that Julie and Lynn have served as co-chairs. The festival has a huge impact on the Mount Olive community and Wayne County.
CCM has printed the festival t-shirts since 2015, and we are always excited to see the theme for the year. The themes are usually based on Julie Beck’s summer travel adventures! They have had Pickle Outback themes (Australia), Pickle Western Themes (Montana), Pickle Safari themes (Africa), Pickle German Themes, Pickle Egyptian themes, Pickle Beatles Themes (Great Britain) as well as an agriculture, IPAD, Monopoly, 150th anniversary and many other themes. We try to find unique themes and then tie them to pickles.
This year’s t-shirt is extra special because it includes artwork from murals around downtown! In 2021, the Town of Mount Olive had two murals painted in downtown Mount Olive to celebrate its history. The 150th mural (to celebrate the town turning 150 years old) was created by two local artists. The mural was painted on (12) 4 x 8 panels and then put together on the wall to create an amazing mural that tells the history of Mount Olive.
The other mural, pickle mural, was created by artist Seraphim Smith from Kinston. He used spray paint to paint six giant pickle jars. He used actual pickle jars from Mt. Olive Pickle Company as his models to create the giant jars on the wall. With the artists permission, we chose to use his mural as our design for the 2022 NCPF.
So, whether you love pickles or you want to experience an award-winning festival, you will not want to miss the North Carolina Pickle Festival!
For more information on the NC Pickle Festival:
Website www.ncpicklefest.org
Visit: 123 N. Center Street, Mount Olive, NC
Stay Tuned! 2nd Annual Pickles, Pigs, & Swigs, November 2022!
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