Cucumber Day in New York

October 4 in the Lower East Side (New York) hosted the annual cucumber feast. Three blocks of fairs, shows, snack bars, and entertainment for children began at the Orchard Street \ Delancey crossroad. From the big barrels, cucumbers were extracted - lightly salted, sour, salty, with spices and without - everyone could get a treat for free, and for a couple of dollars to buy vegetable casseroles, hot and cold salads.
The counters were full of their products: in addition to all kinds of pickles, spices, bouquets of herbs, decorative items, souvenirs, cookbooks, and jewelry were sold in jars. Information maps of the area were laid out on the trays; the local museum, the New Museum, invited us to Open Days and its programs. The musicians entertained the guests, the clown “Cucumber” happily took pictures with everyone. Another colleague of his, wearing a suit similar to a diving suit, dived into a huge “barrel” every time the player’s ball hit the target. Needless to say, the children’s delight knew no bounds, and the adult audience “exploded” with emotions. Young people put cucumbers on sticks and ate them like ice cream. In general, a good mood and atmosphere of the holiday was created without attracting large funds, but by an exceptionally competent strategy of the organizers.
The main goal of Pickle Day is to support and develop the area. Moreover, we are talking not so much about “pure” business, but about the creation of new horizontal connections in the service sector, the exchange of information, the birth of new creative projects involving a wide diverse audience, and, of course, business contacts.
And none of the Americans even suspected that they were promoting a classic Slavic snack. Needless to say, A. Pushkin's favorite delicacies were soaked apples and pickles!
The origins of this trade are certainly associated with immigrants from Eastern Europe, who densely populated the Lower East Side from the second half of the 19th century. They began to introduce America to this delicacy and formed the Pickling Company. Next fall, don't miss the celebration on Cucumber Street.