Dilly Dilly: Pickledelphia will be Philly’s first large-scale pickle festival
(Photo by : Ashley Ringrose / Flickr Creative Commons )
Time to rise and brine. Philly’s first large-scale pickle festival
Cronuts, acai bowls, cupcakes and poké are some of the food trends that have marked this decade’s pop culture — but each one’s popularity has been fleeting.
The time-tested popularity of pickles, on the other hand, won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Or at least, that’s what folks at local marketing firm Digital Force Agency are banking on.
On Sunday, Sept. 9, DFA will host the first annual Pickledelphia Pickle Festival, a daylong party dedicated to the crunchy fermented snacks.
Billed as Philly’s first-ever “large-scale” pickle festival, the event at Schmidt’s Commons (formerly known as The Piazza) in Northern Liberties will offer edible treats and collectible memorabilia from over 50 vendors. There will also be pickle parodies set to country music, pickle pajamas, pickle eating contests, pickle LOVE shirts and pickleback shots.
It’s already a hit. Even before any press writeups, 48,000 people have RSVP’d as either “going” or “interested” on the Facebook event page. The event organizers say that was only to be expected.
“Pickles are the hottest food in 2018, and it isn’t going to stop here,” DFA cofounder Kevin Baxter told Billy Penn. “Pickles are a lifestyle, and we’re going to pickle out everybody.”
In a spiel kind of like the monologue Bubba gives to Forrest on the marvels of shrimp, Baxter effused over the versatility of pickles. At Pickledelphia, he said, attendees will get to sample creations such as:
Pickle ice cream from Scoop DeVille
Pickle grilled cheese from Milkhouse
Pickle pizza from Urban Village Brewing Co.
Pickle chips from Herr’s
Pickle-on-a-stick
Fried pickles
“We’ve gone to pickle festivals in Pittsburgh, in Boston and New York. We know what the pickle lovers want in a festival, and what they don’t. Pickledelphia is going to be the Disney World of Pickles for Philly fans,” Baxter promised.
