Just for Fun: Mansfield Pickle Festival

Submitted Photos

Midway between Dallas and Fort Worth, adjacent to Arlington, is the suburb of Mansfield. Like the rest of the metroplex and Texas, it has experienced a recent growth surge, swelling the population of the once-small town to nearly 70,000. One unique characteristic of Mansfield is that the city limits extend into three counties: Tarrant, Ellis, and Johnson. Another is that the city is the official Pickle Capital of Texas, hosting eachMarch the World’s Only St. Paddy’s Pickle Parade and Palooza!

Proudly presented as the 9th annual family-friendly festival this year by The Pickled Mansfield Society and Mansfield Pickle Queens, the event will roll March 13-14. The 2019 event drew 45,000 people! Highlighted by a world-famous Saturday parade down Main Street,activities also include a Baby Parade, Pet Parade, Pickle Runs, PicklePlayground, Cornhole Tournament, Motorized Beer Keg Races, pickle-themed eating and drinking contests, free live entertainment, vendor market, food court, community stage, the wildly popular Pickle Dude and, of course, the nationally renowned Mansfield Pickle Queens, a group of well-preserved ladies known for their red wigs, tiaras, green thrift-store gowns and plenty of attitude.

Be sure to check it out. It’s a pretty big dill!

The 2020 event theme is Salute the Military and will honor the men and women of the U.S. armed forces. Free admission, free parking, free shuttle service, free children’s activities, and free entertainment all mean Mansfield will be rolling out a good time for attendees.

The party started with a parade in 2012, and the Pickle Parade is still the central event. Featuring dozens of floats and marching groups, the parade is a great kickoff to an afternoon of entertainment, laughs and fun. They ride the final floats in the parade, but they’re first to the party, and first in our hearts. The MansfieldPickle Queens and their Pickle Posse spend the year making plans to bring The World’s Only St. Paddy’s Pickle Parade and Palooza to the community!

The World’s Only St. Paddy’s Pickle Parade showcases live music and entertainment for all tastes, and there’s fun beyond the Main Stage. The party starts March 13 with Texas Country Music Award winner Cody Wayne on the Best Maid Stage on Oak Street. On Saturday, March 14, the Community Stage will feature local amateur and professional performers, while Run 4 Cover takes over the Best Maid Stage to start the day, Coffey Anderson hits the Main Stage right after the PickleParade, plus live music at The LOT.

The year is 1926. Tucked away in a small rock home on a quiet road ina small rural Texas town called Mansfield, Mildred Dalton is busy in her kitchen making pastries and pies. Her husband, Jessie Otis Dalton, operates a one-room grocery store in Fort Worth, Texas. Each day he takes to work with him more of her pastry creations and merchandises them alongside other food items for sale. Times are tough and extra money is needed. Mildred and Jessie have 3 children to care for. Mildred is using a lot of egg whites for pastry meringues, but hardly any of the leftover egg yolks, so she decides to use the egg yolks and begins making homemade mayonnaise. Before long Mildred’s mayonnaise is a best seller in the Fort Worth grocery store and a favorite with family friends. In fact, it’s such a hit that neighbors begin to pay for it, and grocery store customers call in orders ahead of time to make sure that product is available. Mildred decides to complement the popular mayonnaise by making an equally impressive homemade sandwich spread. This item, however, requires pickle relish as a main ingredient. As such, a relish supplier is secured but soon raises prices to what are considered ridiculously high levels, Jessie and Mildred are left with no other option but to plant their own cucumbers in their home garden. The ensuing harvest is so abundant that the family begins packing pickles.

That was the beginning of Best Maid Products, still a majority Dalton family-owned and in the fourth generation. Today, pickles still make up 95 percent of the revenue, but the company has approximately 140 products including pickles, jalapenos, relish, and dressings. TheBest Maid brand serves most of Texas, while the company’s Del-Dixi label serves SoutheastTexas. The factory is located in Fort Worth, with a production plant and a 125,000 square foot distribution facility.

The company grows the majority of their cucumbers in West Texas with contract growers. Soil, moisture, and location all have crucial effects on developing a crisp pickling cucumber, and the West Texas location offers the perfect environment for growing and harvesting only the finest quality cucumbers.