The 30th Annual St. Joe Pickle Festival takes place this weekend, and its return reinforces the community pride that DeKalb County takes in one of its most popular events.
The festival started in 1995 with a few community members who wanted to celebrate the Fourth of July and ended up with a small festival that included pie contests, a band, and fireworks.
Two years later, the members who started the festival felt they needed a gimmick to have people show up year after year. And since Sechler’s Pickles is right in their backyard, it was an easy choice to make it the Pickle Festival.
“They asked them if they could call it the Pickle Fest, and Frank Sechler kind of was hesitant at first, but after that, he agreed, and that’s how the Pickle Fest came along,” President of the Pickle Festival, Christine Weirauch, said. Weirauch started working the festival as a volunteer in 2017.
Nearly everything at the festival is free. The only thing you have to pay for is food and any souvenirs. The festival features bounce houses, laser tag, a petting zoo, live music, and a parade. There is a small fee to participate in the pickle eating or pickle juice drinking contests.
“I would say that’s the biggest draw right there, especially in today’s economy. If you have a small family or even yourself, and if you like small town festivals and want to go have fun, I will say that this is for you,” Weirauch said.
The big trend in recent years has helped with the growth of the festival. Prior to that, word of mouth was the main way they drew visitors. Weirauch expanded on that reach by starting social media pages for the festival in 2017.
“Yes, we definitely have a pretty large reach. We get people across the U.S. actually that come to the pickle festival. Well, Sechler’s alone is a very highly rated pickle brand in itself. So their name alone gets people that come to the festival. Then, you get to do the factory tours. A lot of people are very curious about how the pickles are made and what this is all about, and you only get to do the tours during the festival,” Weirauch said.
Weirauch said what she enjoys the most after all the planning has been finished and the festival is underway is the smiles on everyone’s faces. Oh, and the pickle ice cream too.
“The Lions Club makes really good homemade ice cream between vanilla, chocolate and pickle ice cream. Everyone is always skeptical trying the pickle ice cream,” Weirauch said. “For myself, I love it. I can’t wait every year because it’s the only time I get to try the pickle ice cream. Especially their recipe because it’s their own particular recipe. They sell out pretty quickly.”
To learn more about the Pickle Festival and view the event schedule, click here.
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