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Winchester New Hampshire Pickle Festival

Winchester New Hampshire Pickle FestivalWinchester New Hampshire Pickle FestivalWinchester New Hampshire Pickle Festival

Winchester New Hampshire Pickle Festival

Winchester New Hampshire Pickle FestivalWinchester New Hampshire Pickle FestivalWinchester New Hampshire Pickle Festival
  • Welcome
  • Directions & Parking
  • Important Information
  • Forms and Applications
  • Our Sponsors!
  • We ❤ Volunteers!
  • News and Media
  • Our History
  • Our Mission & Vision
  • More
    • Welcome
    • Directions & Parking
    • Important Information
    • Forms and Applications
    • Our Sponsors!
    • We ❤ Volunteers!
    • News and Media
    • Our History
    • Our Mission & Vision

  • Welcome
  • Directions & Parking
  • Important Information
  • Forms and Applications
  • Our Sponsors!
  • We ❤ Volunteers!
  • News and Media
  • Our History
  • Our Mission & Vision

Our History

The following is a history of the Winchester Pickle Festival written by it's founder, Gary O'Neal.

I am the pickle

It was  a nasty and rainy summer afternoon- I had a guest from Boston

She wanted a pizza with peppers on one side

As usual A-1 delivered and the peppers looked great- and were tasty too.

Later that night watching a food show I thought about how inexpensively 

You could make a pizza this time of year with Fresh vegetables.-

 I then thought of the tomato throwing in Spain at the end of the season

I recalled the disaster the throwing of Zucchini the last year of the Zucchini Festival.

I then thought that hand made pickles were cheap and with all the erstwhile ‘farmers’ we had in town

 There must be a lot of produce that could be gathered – cleaned- and pickled

The next morning I mused more then thought- making pickles would be fun and inviting people that made them even better

Having produced Hinsdale’s 4th of July Celebration I was familiar with the games and prizes.

I called Chris Frado and Meg Conant- I told them of my idea- we set up a meeting at the town Hall the next week.

When I met there were several volunteers that liked the idea of an event in Winchester designed to be fun and without games of chance

I  told the all women cabal I in fact had done this before, knew what I was  doing- and could pay for the entire event with parking- as I had done  for years in Hinsdale.

I suggested the far corn field at the ELMM Center. I estimated I would take in about $5000 which would pay for the event. We all agreed- I also made pins to sell for $5 bucks

The next day I felt like I had kidnapped the Lindbergh baby and on my way to prison

What you want to ruin the ELMM center’s Field- the field is used and rented by the Kellyview Farm 

 I  suggested since the corn is used for silage- harvest the corn- and give  the ELMM another $200 for the rental of the field- I suggested $500

The horror of my proposal got a few more fringe element volunteers- who felt quite entitled, included Mrs. Kelly 

In  the next meeting I told the assemble I would pay for the event myself- I  spent the next few weeks getting donations from SYSCO

10 - 55 gallon Barrels of Pickles- and lining up bands for the parade I had promised

The retro nature of pickles lent itself to other events and I got steaks from Kulick’s for the Fire Dept. to do a steak Fry

I also hired an Elvis to head the parade and DJ an adult Dance that evening.

I  had ringers for every nature of item you could pickle and wrote lots of  copy and produced a Video record of the event for year 2

I got a feature in the Union Leader and NHPTV took some of my footage and Chanel 5 in Boston put it in upcoming weekend hits 

There were lots of items- lots of free stuff and the vendors I hired made lots of money.

The  volunteers in and about town were wonderful. I gave the event to the  committee I created and they have done their best for the past 20 years

I retired from committee work then.

Gary would also like to recognize the following people: "The amazing support crew. Irene Clark, Carleen Burdick, Rick Meleski and  Chan Stephens who were all part of the Paper Service family, and with a 100  year old firm."  

Copyright © 2017 Winchester New Hampshire Pickle Festival LLC - All Rights Reserved.

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See you Sept. 28 2024 for our 26th year!