MOUNT OLIVE — Break out your pickle costumes, your pickleball paddles, and your pickle appetites. The 38th North Carolina Pickle Festival returns to downtown Mount Olive on Saturday.

The traditional Friday night kick-off includes pay-one-price carnival rides from 5 p.m. to 9, a live outdoor concert featuring Steel County Express from 7 p.m. to 10, and the Cuke Patch 5-K Glow Run from 8 p.m. to 9. (Note that the Friday night festival offers an experience limited to just the events described above, not the full festival experience of Saturday.)

The festival’s main day on Saturday, with vendors and a full day’s schedule of events, is from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

With two record-breaking events in 2022 and 2023, organizers are improving on plans for larger crowds, an expanded footprint, and more vendors.

“We have learned so much in the past two years, as the Pickle Festival moved into a new tier in terms of size,” said Julie Beck, festival co-chairperson. “Our goals are still the same – to attract thousands of visitors to our downtown, and to provide a dill-lightful and safe festival experience.”

2024’s festival’s theme uses a pickled twist on the spy genre for t-shirts and merchandise. Also new this year is Knockerball Bubble Soccer and Rick Hubbard’s Kaboozie Show, featuring free kazoos to those attending any of the three shows throughout the day.

Accommodating larger crowds also means providing more shuttles to downtown. The festival is adding multiple park and ride locations, including the Bobby Denning Shopping Center, Walmart, Roses, and three locations on the University of Mount Olive’s campus.

The highlight of the day, as always, is the pickle-eating contest at noon, presented on its own stage in front of the town’s 150th Anniversary History mural. Well over 250 people signed up by April 1 for the chance to compete in one of 24 seats in the contest. Last year’s winner, Cole Lambert of West Virginia, ate 13 Mt. Olive Whole Kosher Dills in five minutes.

And that sets the stage for a relatively new event – Ollie’s Costume Contest, at 1:30.

“We were so amazed in 2022 at all the people who showed up in pickle tees, hats, and costumes, so we decided to add a costume contest to Saturday’s lineup,” Beck said. “Ollie Q. Cumber judges it. All contestants have to do is show up at 1:30.”

Folks are encouraged to wear their best pickle, or pickle spy, costumes. Prizes will be awarded to The Big Dill (best individual), Pair of Pickles (best couple), Group of Gherkins (best group), and Petites & Baby Dills (best children’s costume under 12 years old). No registration is required, she said, “just show up a few minutes before 1:30 to enter.)

The festival’s third-annual Pickleball tournament will be played Friday and Saturday at the Goldsboro Event Center this year. Normally staged at the University of Mount Olive’s John Neal Walker Tennis Complex, the tournament this year is moving to Goldsboro because of UMO graduation that Friday morning.

The popular Saturday helicopter rides return (taking off from UMO in front of Pope Wellness Center), as well as four stages of live entertainment downtown and the ever-popular Wayne County Car Cruisers classic car show. Saturday also features the Tour de Pickle Recreational Bike ride with new routes of 25, 50, and 75 miles, carnival rides, and roaming entertainers.

A final new development for the pickle festival is an updated pet policy: pets are not permitted at the festival this year, aside from service animals. Organizers cite safety concerns for the animals and festivalgoers.

All of the festival’s details, including registrations in special events, can be found online at ncpicklefest.org.