North Carolina Pickle Festival set for April 25–26 in downtown Mount Olive; recipe contest winner announced

The North Carolina Pickle Festival will run Friday, April 25, and Saturday, April 26, in downtown Mount Olive, organizers said during a virtual cooking demonstration that also announced the festival’s recipe-contest winner.

Julie Beck, cochair of the North Carolina Pickle Festival, said, “The North Carolina Pickle Festival kicks off on Friday, April 25.” The two-day event will include a pay-one-price carnival on Friday evening and an all-day program Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., organizers said.

The festival program will feature four stages of entertainment, free Mount Olive pickle samples, a beer, wine and distillery garden, and family activities including a children’s area with inflatables, a puppet show and a balloon artist. A signature “pickle train” ride will operate on the festival grounds for $5, and the popular pickle-eating contest is scheduled for noon on Saturday. Organizers said the eating contest will feature 22 selected contestants who each get a plate of 20 kosher dill pickles and five minutes to finish them.

Melissa Kilpatrick, festival administrator and a representative of Mount Olive Pickle Company, said the festival requires every food vendor to offer a pickled item and that organizers have expanded the festival footprint to accommodate more vendors. Organizers reported 175 vendors confirmed to attend; more than 300 vendors applied and roughly 150 remain on a waiting list.

Organizers described several steps taken to manage large crowds and public safety, including additional police presence, concrete or other barriers at entry points and coordination with the town manager, police and fire departments and emergency management. They said volunteers and a planning committee of about 25 people support operations, with roughly 100 volunteers scheduled to work on festival day.

The virtual cooking segment presented the winning recipe in the festival’s virtual contest. Michelle Estrada, county extension director with Cooperative Extension and family and consumer sciences agent, said organizers ran a virtual recipe contest this year. The winning entry—submitted by Brenda Watts of Gaffney, South Carolina—was announced as the “pickled pepper pork, potato and carrot cottage pie.” The demo team prepared the dish on camera and described core ingredients, including ground pork, pickled dill slices and roasted red peppers in the meat layer and mashed sweet potatoes with butter, heavy cream, an egg yolk, cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg for the topping.

Organizers also highlighted festival attractions including a costume contest for the festival mascot “Ollie Cucumber,” a children’s costume contest, a glow run and live music; they noted R & R Brewing’s dill pickle soda and Pickle Town Lager as festival merchandise and beverage offerings. Organizers reported past awards for festival merchandise in multistate festival competitions.

The organizers asked attendees to leave pets at home because of anticipated crowd size; only service animals will be allowed. They also urged attendees to follow posted safety instructions. The event schedule and lineup of vendors, contests and headliners were presented as planned; organizers said weather and other operational details could affect specific on-site arrangements but gave no further contingency dates.

The festival team said it aims both to showcase local agriculture and to provide a family-friendly community event. Brenda Watts, the recipe contest winner, appeared briefly and accepted congratulations during the demo. The festival’s organizers invited the public to downtown Mount Olive on April 26 and to preview four recipe videos produced for the contest: main dish, appetizer, beverage and dessert.