State News

No Pickle Contest For You!

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The potential of a pickle-eating contest is enormous. Would contestants be asked to consume gherkins? Dills? Aunt Bee kerosene specials? Would spectators be warned against huge waves of pickle juice flying off the contestants' table?

Alas, we're not going to find out. The pickle-eating contest for the NC State Fair has been cancelled. Matt Rizzetta, PR Director for the IFOCE (International Federation of Competitive Eating) told me that in light of recent legislation covering online gambling (the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, Wikipedia has an overview with several external links here) GoldenPalace would not be sponsoring the event. And no sponsor, no event.

Matt assures me that the IFOCE does plan to do an event in North Carolina at some point, but not in time for this year's Fair. Perhaps next year we'll see them at the Fair again, with another sponsor.