Dill-icious: How pickle humor grew Mount Olive Pickle sales - Today in History
A daily look at some of The News & Observer’s headlines on Nov. 14 in past years. On this day in 1976, The News & Observer published a story in which Mount Olive Pickle Co. President John Walker described how his company sold pickle-shaped soap, pickle-themed T-shirts and squeaky pickle toys to make people laugh — and increase sales. The business, which formed in 1926, had 25 million jars of pickle products annually across 20 states and made up about two-thirds of pickle sales in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. “I don’t think there’s any question that this has helped our sales,” Walker said of the merch. “There’s just something funny about pickles, so we’ve got to make it a plus for us.” Walker’s 1,000 pickle brine tanks and a witty sense of humor helped North Carolina become one of the nation’s largest cucumber producers. At the time, the company had sales of more than $10 million a year. Walker said he delighted in learning that people learned about his town, the brand’s namesake, from his company’s pickles. NC church leaders debate whether segregation in churches would end Also in 1976: More than two decades after the Brown v.
