Mount Olive, North Carolina
New York is known for its ball. London, Sydney, and Paris for their Fireworks, Raleigh for its acorn, and Mount Olive for its pickle. That’s right, the Pickle Capital of the United States drops a pickle every New Year’s Eve at 7:00 PM Eastern Standard Time or 12:00 AM Greenwich Mean Time.
The celebration started in the 1990s as a small gathering at the Mount Olive Pickles with some of their employees and their families. Over the years, Mount Olive Pickles opened up their factory to allow people to come onto the grounds to see the pickle drop in person. The first time I experienced the pickle drop was at one of these factory events, where the pickle was lowered down the flagpole into a bucket. The event, then as always, was effectively finished by 7:05 PM. The event is very family-friendly, as you could have small kids at home and in bed before any actual New Year’s Eve celebrations actually begin.
The event, however, has continued to grow, and in recent years, the pickle drop has been moved to the University of Mount Olive campus to accommodate the larger crowd, as thousands now attend. In a rare occurrence for us, I really didn’t take them anywhere for the Christmas holidays this year, so we went to the larger pickle drop, as it had been a few years since we last attended. The pickle drop took over the entire Kornegay Arena parking lot. As is the case at any major Town of Mount Olive event, you can usually find free pickles. The event also included food trucks, bouncy houses, and live music. At “midnight,” the fireworks show began.
Mount Olive has a unique New Year’s Tradition that is family-friendly and fun to attend. Probably the best summary of what to expect comes from an NPR interview that dropped on December 31, in which my niece and I were interviewed for a segment about our visit to the Pickle Parlor in Mount Olive. If you are looking for a new tradition for New Year’s Eve, we would love to have you visit the Mount Olive Pickle Drop.
