Picklesburgh to deliver briny bites, bucking pickle
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Picklesburgh marks a decade in the city this weekend with salty showdowns and inventive eats.
Why it matters: The event has become a defining summer tradition, drawing nearly a quarter million attendees last year and showcasing Pittsburgh's appetite for eccentric fun.
What to expect: Dozens of vendors will sell pickle beer, cocktails, ice cream, cupcakes, pizza and family recipes like Polish pickles. There's handmade art, live music and crowds sparkling in green glitter.
What's new: Pickle riding on a custom-built, bucking gherkin akin to a mechanical bull.
- Must be 18+ to ride. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased on-site on Fourth Avenue by PPG Plaza. The ride goes up to level 10 and has a "rodeo mode." Riders are allowed a turn for up to 60 seconds.
Pro tip: Operators said the key to a successful ride is to hold the pickle with your dominant hand, grip it tightly with your thighs, lean back when it dips forward, and lean forward when it lifts back. Don't wear slippy pants.
Fun fact: If you want a very rough benchmark for your performance (in rodeo mode), Professional Bull Riders have to last eight seconds on real bulls during rodeo events.
Yes but: Ryan lasted 24 seconds and I tumbled off at 17 seconds on levels one and two during a pickle preview.
- I forgot all the pro tips and am ashamed.
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Dig in: Latrobe-based Gosia's made-from-scratch dill pickle pierogies, available only at the festival, are a consistent sellout.
- Support local staples and try pickle-flavored IC Light and Turner's Pickled Iced Tea.
💠Ryan's thought bubble: I tried Pittsburgh Pickle Company's Dill Pickle Salsa (debuting at the festival) and it packs a punch of sour and heat. Probably best with some nachos topped with cool avocados or sour cream.
What to watch: The Dill-Cathlon Games, where champions take home $500 and bragging rights. Registration is full, but some walk-on spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Pickle juice drinking: Chug a quart fastest to be crowned Duke of Drinking.
- Pickle eating: Eat the most pickles by weight in four minutes for the title Earl of Eating.
- Pickle bobbing: Snag the most pickles by weight in 90 seconds, no hands, to become Baron of Bobbing.
Stunning stat: Picklesburgh attendees have consumed 95,000 pickle beers and 800 quarts of pickle juice over the past 10 years, per the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.
If you go: The festival has expanded this year to parts of Downtown, the Clemente and Warhol bridges and the North Shore. Full map here.
- Noon to 10pm Friday through Saturday, noon to 6pm Sunday.
- Admission is free.