Some of the handcrafted items being sold under the Susie’s Thimbles tent are shown during the inaugural Picklefest event at the Garden Drive-In on Saturday.
Sam Zavada | Times Leader
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Holly and Michael Marriggi stood under the tent for Tim’s Chili & Salsa during the inaugural Picklefest event at the Garden Drive-In on Saturday.
Sam Zavada | Times Leader
The special, pickle-themed treats being sold at the Garden Drive-In were listed on a blackboard during the inaugural Picklefest event on Saturday.
Sam Zavada | Times Leader
The Garden Drive-In hosted its inaugural Picklefest on Saturday afternoon, bringing together vendors and locals for a celebration of all things related to pickles.
Garden Drive-In Manager Stephen Zelenak came up with the idea for Picklefest by checking out the latest trends on social media. He noticed that similar pickle celebrations were common in other areas of the country.
“[Picklefest] morphed from other towns doing the same thing,” Zelenak said of his event’s development.
However, he noted that other local, food-specific festivals in the area, such as those for tomatoes, pierogies and kielbasa, were not direct inspirations for Picklefest.
Social media played a big part in helping to gather up vendors to set up shop at Picklefest. Zelenak let the community know that Picklefest was on the schedule, and was on the lookout for pickle-themed vendors.
“There are at least three or four vendors selling pickles. We have a food truck that has chocolate-covered pickles,” said Zelenak. “There’s people selling crocheted and crafted pickles, stuffed animals, toys… so there’s a lot of different items at our show.”
Susan Taylor, the owner of Susie’s Thimbles, was among the vendors selling pickle crafts, mainly those that are crocheted and sewn by hand. She said she updated her inventory with items made especially for Picklefest, which turned out to be a savvy move.
“I’m running really low right now,” Taylor said of the business she did at her stand. “That’s a really good thing.”
While Taylor, of Wilkes-Barre, is a fan of eating pickles, creating them out of thread was something she didn’t expect to do before coming across Picklefest.
“I love pickles,” Taylor affirmed. “Did I ever have the inventory of pickles? No.”
Michael and Holly Marriggi were representing Tim’s Chili & Salsa, of Pittston Twp., on Saturday on behalf of their friend and the owner of the business, Tim Bartuska. They said they had quite a bit of success at Picklefest as well.
“We were busy all day long,” Michael said. “We haven’t had a chance to sit down.”
Michael said that while chilis and salsas are Tim’s usual specialty, as the business name would suggest, the pickle selection comes out for unique occasions.
“We have different options of pickles, salsa and chili,” said Michael. “They created [the pickles] for here, for other pickle fests, and farmer’s markets.”
Back behind the scenes, Zelenak said that the Garden Drive-In is always looking for new and interesting ways to bring people to their grounds. For example, they host a weekly flea market on Sundays, two craft shows throughout the year, and have a car event coming up in July.
“Business for movies has been a little slow lately, so we’re trying to fill the weekends with at least one event a month,” said Zelenak.
Zelenak’s hopes for future Picklefests are high, especially as the public’s interest builds.
“We’re hoping it grows,” said Zelenak. “We’d like to do it again next year.”