Overview:
In honor of National Pickle Month, the Estes Valley Community Center will host four pickle-related events throughout July.
Julie Bunton does not consider herself “a pickle person.” Her son’s girlfriend, on the other hand, is, which drew Bunton’s attention to pickles.
“Because of my son’s girlfriend, I’ve started to learn to look out for all things pickle for her,” Bunton said. “For whatever reason, I stumbled across National Pickle Month as a thing and thought it would be perfect to do in Estes.”
The result is a monthlong series of pickle-themed adult programs at the community center, 660 Community Drive. The first-year celebration begins with “Preserved: A Pickling Workshop” on July 1, followed by a pickleball clinic on July 18, a pickle jar glow-up class on July 22, and a Pickles & Pilsners Pairing on July 30.
Each event leans into a different side of the community center’s programming. Or, as Bunton put it, “Those are the four genres of adult activities we focus on at the Community Center: culinary, educational, art, and then recreation, so we just stuck with those and did one of each for National Pickle Month.”
The pickling workshop came together quickly because the community center already had a natural instructor in mind. Vicki Haan, who owns Mountain Berry Bakery and the Kissing Moose Cafe food truck, has taught culinary classes at the community center before, and participants in a previous preserving class had asked whether she could teach a class on making pickles.
“Vicki does catering in town, has been a vendor at the community center’s food truck rallies, and has previously taught culinary classes here,” Bunton said. “People at her last class were asking, this was a year ago, about pickling and whether she could teach them how to make pickles. So putting together and planning the (Preserved: A Pickling Workshop) was easy.”
That class, scheduled for July 1, will teach participants how to turn cucumbers into pickles, experiment with brines and spices, and leave with a jar of their own. Registration for the workshop has closed.
The pickleball clinic, scheduled for July 18, brings the athletic side of the pickle craze into the month. The $20 clinic is a collaboration between the community center and the recreation department and is designed for people who want to learn the basics or sharpen their skills in a low-pressure setting.
“With the craze of pickleball in the nation, and in our town especially, we thought we could incorporate that aspect of ‘pickle’ into the event,” Bunton said. “We have a thriving pickleball community, and our outdoor courts are always packed. People are always asking for clinics and to learn so they can get in on the action.”
The July 22 Pickle Jar Glow-Up Class shifts from courts to crafts. The $40 class invites participants to transform empty pickle jars into hanging lights. Bunton said she wanted one of the events to be hands-on and creative, and pickle jars were the obvious medium.
“The pickle jar glow-up class was because I wanted to do something crafty,” Bunton said. “I just searched things to do, and pickle jars made the most sense.”
The month ends July 30 with Pickles & Pilsners Pairing, a $30 pairing event that begins at the community center before turning into a small pickle parade to Lumpy Ridge Brewing Co. Bunton said the community center has found that collaborative events with local businesses, especially breweries and wineries, tend to draw strong interest.
For this one, Lumpy Ridge Brewing Co. brought in another local partner. The brewery connected with In a Pickle, a vendor from the valley that has a booth at the farmers market, and plans to use the vendor’s pickle brine to brew a special pickle beer in the weeks leading up to and following the event.
“It’s really all taking place at Lumpy,” Bunton said. “We are going to start here and do a parade to walk over to Lumpy that I think is going to be really fun.”
The community response has already been strong for the first two events. A week and a half before National Pickle Month, Bunton reported that the pickling workshop had 10 of 12 spots filled before registration closed, and the pickleball clinic had only one spot left. The craft class and beer pairing had seen slower registration, but Bunton said that is typical for Estes Park, where people often sign up close to the event date.
“I’m hoping it generates a response, especially Pickles and Pilsners since we have engaged so many community partners for that event,” Bunton said.
The silliness of the theme has also helped. Bunton said people have laughed about the names, bought events as gifts for friends, and talked about dressing up for the pickle parade. She has heard about plans for green outfits, pickle costumes, and possibly dressed-up dogs.
“There has been a lot of laughter and fun over the name,” Bunton said. “It’s weird enough that it’s cool.”
If the rest of the month goes well, National Pickle Month may not be a one-time thing in Estes Park. Bunton said the community center would likely keep the pickleball clinic and Pickles and Pilsners in future years, while rotating in different crafts or culinary programs.
“We’ll see what the response is, but this could absolutely become an annual event,” Bunton said. “It’s going to be a big dill, as they say.”