The City of Arlington is preparing for a massive pickle festival this weekend, and planners expect it will be a “big dill.”
The “Big Dill: World’s Largest Pickle Party 2025” is coming to Globe Life Field and Texas Live! In Arlington, on November 8, according to a press release. This festival comes six days before National Pickle Day – November 14 – and Arlington officials called it the “biggest pickle celebration in history.”
“This isn’t just a festival – it’s the ultimate pickle celebration,” said The Big Dill Co-Founder Kevin Baxter in the release. “We’re bringing the brine, the beats, and an experience Texas will never forget.”
The festival starts at noon on November 8 and runs until 8 p.m.
The event is already sold out, but organizers have started a waitlist for next year, according to their website. Fans will enter near Texas Live! off E. Randol Mill Road. Guest parking will be located just off the road to the east, and overflow parking will be available off Cowboys Way.
More than 7,000 people are expected to attend, and more than 900 hotel rooms have reportedly been booked, according to NBC DFW. Officials expect this will bring an economic boost to the Arlington entertainment district.
The Big Dill has more than 1.2 million followers on social media, has served over 500,000 pickles, and has sold a total of 50,000 tickets. As CBS News reported, the festival has attracted thousands of fans to Baltimore for the past five years.
“Now, for the first time ever, Texas is about to get pickled,” Arlington officials said in the release.
Attendees can join events like mechanical bull riding, axe throwing, rock climbing, face painting, carnival games, and a Ferris wheel, according to the release. The Brine Chug Challenge will start at 3:30 p.m., and an “electric pickle rave” will start at 6 p.m. To cap it all off, the World Pickle Eating Championship will start at 7 p.m.
Best Maid Pickles – the official pickle of Texas, which started in Mansfield nearly 99 years ago – will take “center stage” on “Pickle Row,” offering unlimited samples of flavors from spicy habanero to bourbon-soaked brine bombs.
Vendors from the Texas State Fair will also join, bringing crispy fried pickles, tangy pickle pizza, pickle corn dogs, pickle lemonade, a chicken brine sandwich, and “cotton candy bacon.” Wonderful Pistachios will also debut its newest “No Shells” dill pickle flavor.
Martin House Brewing Company, of Fort Worth, will bring its “Best Maid Sour Pickle Beer” to the party, according to the release. For guests ages 21 and up, the festival will also serve “pickle-powered cocktails” like the pickle margarita, the pickle shot, or a Jack Daniel’s pickleback.
“With an entire lineup of briny, boozy creations, this is the ultimate drink experience for pickle and cocktail lovers alike,” Arlington officials said in the release.
Other sponsors include Jimmy John’s, the Portland Pickles baseball team, Teremana Tequila, Twang pickle salt, and The Original Pickle Shot.
The pickle party promises to feature live music, performances, and interactive entertainment all day. A viral social media personality known as The Pickle Priest – Dan Castricone – will even deliver “pickle blessings.”
Just south of Arlington, Mansfield – home of Best Maid pickles – heralds itself as the “pickle capital of Texas.” Every year, it holds “The World’s Only St. Paddy’s Pickle Parade.”