The World’s Largest Pickle Festival, The Big Dill, Returns to Philly With 50+ Vendors Offering Pickle-Themed Food and Drinks
The World’s Largest Pickle Festival, The Big Dill, Returns to Philly With 50+ Vendors Offering Pickle-Themed Food and Drinks
The Big Dill®, billed as “The World’s Largest Pickle Party®,” will host what organizers are calling the largest National Pickle Day celebration in history on Saturday, Nov. 14, at Stateside Live! The event follows a more than $20 million expansion at the venue and comes as National Pickle Day falls on a Saturday for the first time until 2037. Tickets go on sale Tuesday, Sept. 15, with more than 12,000 people already registered for early access at bigdill.com/tour.
Philly was selected to host National Pickle Day and close out the 2026 “In My Pickle Era” national tour, marking a homecoming for organizers, who are based in the Philadelphia area. The team staged its first sold-out pickle event in the city in 2018 and returned in 2024 to sell out the same South Philadelphia complex, including the Wells Fargo Center parking lot.
The 2026 tour opens Sept. 19 at Power Plant Live! in Baltimore before moving to Arlington, Texas, on Nov. 7, where Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi will be crowned “America’s Pickle Queen” at Texas Live! and Globe Life Field to kick off “National Pickle Week.” The week concludes seven days later in Philadelphia.
“Over the past couple of years, Pickles went from the side of the plate to the center of pop culture, and Pennsylvania sits at the center of it all,” said Kevin Baxter, co-founder of The Big Dill. “Between Picklesburgh in the western part of the state and The Big Dill in the east, no region anywhere celebrates the pickle like we do. When National Pickle Day lands on a Saturday in Philadelphia, our hometown, the state of Pennsylvania can truly call itself the pickle capital of the world.”
Organizers plan to set a record for the largest gathering of people dressed as pickles at the event, part of what they’re calling the Parade of the Pickles. Participants will wear individually numbered pickle costumes sponsored by Imposta Costumes, with the goal of surpassing the current record of 888 people dressed as fruits or vegetables, set in Japan in 2017. The first 1,200 ticket buyers will receive a numbered costume, a commemorative patch and an official photo documenting their participation, with the full count verified on event day.
Entertainment will include performances by Shot of Southern and the South Philly String Band, along with sets from DJ Jay Roy, DJ Andrew Hugh and DJ Big Country. DJ Smooth will host a VIP Pickle Brunch. Additional attractions include the World Pickle Eating Championship®, a Brine Chug Challenge, the Pickle UP! game show, mechanical pickle rides, and an appearance by TikTok personality The Pickle Priest. A 25-foot inflatable pickle jar, called “Big Brine,” will serve as a centerpiece for photos.
Pickle Row will feature 20 brands offering unlimited sampling of more than 100 pickle varieties, included with admission. Participating brands include Philadelphia’s Fishtown Pickle Project, Penny Pickles and Delco Dills, alongside regional producers such as Jersey Pickles, Green Kamikozee’s and Doc Pickles.
More than 50 food vendors will serve pickle-themed dishes, including pickle pizza, fried pickle egg rolls, pickle pretzels, pickle pierogies, fried pickles, pickle grilled cheese and pickle nachos, along with pickle lemonade and pickle milkshakes. Traditional Philly fare will also be available. For guests 21 and older, bars will offer pickle-inspired drinks, including a Jameson Irish Whiskey Pickle Back station, pickle beer from Philadelphia’s Evil Genius Beer Company and pickle margaritas.
The Big Dill has sold out every event since 2019, a streak of seven consecutive sellouts, and was recognized in 2024 by World Record Academy as the World’s Largest Pickle Party. The brand has sold tickets in 40 states and says it has built a social media following of more than 1.5 million people.
