Picklesburgh, the two-day pickle extravaganza that took over the Rachel Carson Bridge (and every Pittsburgher’s Instagram feed) last summer is coming back.
This year’s event will take place on Friday, July 15 and Saturday, July 16, 2016.
“We were blown away by the amount of love we got last year,” says Leigh Ann White of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. “We initially thought that maybe we’d get about 25,000 people come over the bridge, but we ended up with over 75,000 visitors in two days.”
Plans for this year’s event are still underway, but White says that they’ll include expanded food offerings, a children’s area, live entertainment, more cooking and pickling demonstrations, and lots (and lots) of pickle-themed products.
“Last year, we had someone sell purses using pickle fabrics, and she actually had to go home after the first night and make more for the next day,” White says. “We got a lot of stories like that.”
Other products for sale included pickling gear, jams, jellies, and prepared foods from Pittsburgh restaurants like Sienna Mercato, Meat & Potatoes and Grit & Grace.
The PDP is currently taking vendor applications on their website, and exploring ways to accommodate even more expected visitors this year.
And of course, the giant, 35-foot-wide Heinz pickle balloon will continue to be a big part of the event.
“Everyone wanted a picture of that,” White says. “It will definitely be back.”
I’ll be defending my title of Pickle Juice King this year in the pickle juice chugging contest.
How much pickle juice must be consumed in the contest?
They haven’t set the specifics for this year’s event yet, but when we find out, we’ll let you know!
It was 32 ounces of pickle juice per round last year. First round I consumed it in 11 seconds. Championship round took 7.5 seconds. Keep practicing.
I need to find a way to request fried bread and butter pickles! Soo good!
Maybe this year there will actually be pickles? Last year there was hardly any pickles. A lot of street vendors not a lot of pickles.
This is my day!!!
Will there actually be pickle anything this year, or will every stand run out of everything pickle like last year? A pickle event isn’t very pickle-y, if there are no pickles. Please properly supply the pickles for this pickle pride. I would be most pleased.