The North Carolina Pickle Festival is something I wanted to attend as soon as I found out it existed. The town of Mount Olive throws this celebration each year to bring folks together and highlight the wonderful things they have to offer. There's a pickle eating contest, a pickleball tournament, a pickle 5k and a pickle costume contest...this festival is a big dill!! There is a recipe contest where you can show off your skills in making a food item including one of the many Mount Olive products, live music, rides, a car show...I could go on and on. The only real down side is..how popular it has gotten. We chose one of the many parking areas in town to utilize the shuttle, and waited over an hour to even get to the downtown area. The lines at nearly all the food and drink vendors were super long as well. I met a woman who waited 90 minutes for a pickle brined turkey leg. We did pick up one of the maps available to locate different areas of interest and while it was helpful, it took forever to travel a few blocks in the heavy crowds. The Mount Olive company itself had two areas where they handed out all sorts of free samples which was lovely. I did not get to spot the mascot Ollie, or try a pickle margarita-maybe next year! read more