Expired Foods

If we could be in NC for this, we certainly would attend. Heck it's a long standing tradition (since 2001 is a long time, right? PS That's their mascot above):

The idea has its roots in the skills of World War II bombardiers. They were so accurate, it was claimed, they could drop a bomb in a pickle barrel.

In the 1950s, Pickle Packers International invited a few of those bombardiers to Chicago to test their skills: they stood at the top of a skyscraper and dropped pickles into barrels on the sidewalk below. Those with perfect aim, of course, received a year's supply of pickles.

Fast forward to 1999, the year Mt. Olive became the official Pickle and Pepper of the Millennium. For the advent of the new age, we staged our first pickle drop on New Year's Eve. We did it at around 7, since Mr. Crisp had a date later that evening. There were just eight of us in attendance.

We had so much fun at New Year's in 1999, we decided in 2000 to stage the second New Year's Eve pickle drop in our tank yard. This time, we invited our employees and their families to kick off our 75th anniversary in early 2001. It occurred to us that 7 o'clock here in Eastern North Carolina is actually midnight Greenwich Mean Time, and a tradition of being early (but official) on New Year's Eve was born.

By 2001, we opened the New Year's Eve Pickle Drop to the general public. We refurbished a perfectly preserved redwood pickle tank and placed it around our flagpole at the Corner of Cucumber & Vine. We offered live music, free refreshments, and door prizes for those who brought canned food for the Salvation Army's food bank. That year the Mayor of Mount Olive, Louis Pate, helped us dedicate the tank, along with 250 of our friends and neighbors. We brought out the "Pickle Polka," and, at the right moment, we sang "Auld Lang Syne" accompanied by bagpipes.

In 2002, figuring that New York has nothing on us, we added a marquee. It counts down the final hour from 6 to 7 p.m. and ensures the pickle comes down the pole at precisely the stroke of 7 o'clock midnight. We also added lights to the pickle itself. A little over three foot long, polythylene and green, the pool pickle is so named because it floats.

In 2003 and 2004, we had over 500 people join us to celebrate the New Year, including North Carolina's Commissioner of Agriculture Britt Cobb.

We introduce a new pickle for 2005, one that absolutely glows with enthusiasm: lights were added to the inside of the pickle to protect them from wind damage.

In 2006, an estimated 1,500 people thronged at the Corner of Cucumber & Vine for the New Year’s Eve festivities.

Mt. Olive teamed up with Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina for the food drive in 2007. A record 2,000 people turned out, and we collected over half a ton of food.


- Above info provided by the Mt Olive Pickle Website



Read more:

Mt. Olive Pickle Company Prepares For New Year's Pickle Drop