2025 Pickle Drop at Mt. Olive Pickles

MOUNT OLIVE, NC—The New Year's Eve Pickle Drop takes on new significance for 2025: it will usher in 2026, Mt. Olive Pickle’s Centennial Year.

To mark the occasion, Durham artist Rahela Laquidara is at work crafting a new Centennial Pickle that will drop from Mount Olive Fire Department’s Tower 23 on Wednesday, December 31.

The 26th annual Pickle Drop will be staged again in front of the University of Mount Olive’s Kornegay Arena with its signature early schedule: everything gets underway at 5 o’clock, and the pickle descends at 7 o’clock sharp. A fireworks display immediately follows, and, the whole thing is over by 7:30.

“We have used what we call a pool pickle for our New Year’s Pickle since the very beginning,” said Lynn Williams, company spokesperson. “We’ve talked for the last few years that we needed a bigger one to drop. The pool pickle, at only three and a half feet, looks awfully small hanging from the ladder truck 50 feet up in the air.

“This year seemed to be the time to commission something new, to kick off our centennial.”

The evening features live music by ThrowBack Collaboration Band, which performs old school rhythm and blues, as well as free pickles, food trucks, and children’s inflatables. And, those who contribute to the annual canned food drive for Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC receive a chance to win door prizes from the Mt. Olive Pickle Parlor.

The New Year’s Eve Pickle Drop, first held in 1999 and attended by a handful of Mt. Olive Pickle employees, annually draws several thousand. 

“Our early evening celebration makes it ideal for families and older adults,” Williams said, “and then there’s everyone else who wants to celebrate New Year’s Eve and still be home in bed well before midnight.”

For those who can’t make it in person, watch it live on New Year’s Eve on the web at www.mtolivepickles.com.

In business since 1926 in its hometown of Mount Olive, NC, Mt. Olive Pickle Company manufactures the best-selling brand of pickles, peppers and relishes in the U.S.

Event Details

• The New Year’s Eve Pickle Drop is an outdoor event. 
• Physical address for the live event: University of Mount Olive, 634 Henderson Street, Mount Olive, NC 28365, in front of the George and Annie Dail Kornegay Arena
• Handicapped parking will be available
• Park anywhere on campus – www.umo.edu
• Food trucks will be available to serve at 5 pm, and the live music also starts at 5pm
• Video screens will count down the last hours of 2025, from 5-7pm
• The pickle drops at 7pm sharp
• Fireworks will begin immediately after the pickle lands in the jar.
• Free pickles courtesy Mt. Olive Pickle
• Bring canned food or financial contribution for the Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC and receive a ticket for a door prize drawing. The grand prize is a pickle like the one that is dropped, without the lights.
• Bring your own chairs!