Pickles, pirates and a 30-pound flea: Here are ways North Carolina rings in 2020
North Carolina is a weird place.
Not only are happy hour drinks technically illegal, but the Tar Heel state also allows people to do whatever they want to possums five days a year.
Celebrations for ringing in the new year are apparently no exception. Several cities have taken “ball drop” to a whole new level.
In no particular order, here’s five of the strangest drops — past and present — in North Carolina:
Flea Drop — Eastover
Jasper, the beloved ceramic flea, will fall from the sky at midnight in the town of Eastover off Interstate 95 outside of Fayetteville.
The “family-friendly” event is hosted at the town’s Community Center.
No alcoholic beverages are permitted. But who needs booze when you’ve got a giant flea to keep you company?
Jasper is three feet tall, weighs 30 pounds and has been on just about every list of bizarre items dropped on New Years Eve since the first Flea Drop first in 2010.
The event is a nod to the town’s history, the Charlotte Observer reported.
“The flea is a symbol of our heritage,” event chair Susan Baggett said in 2018. “For a long period, part of Eastover was known as Flea Hill because of a flea infestation that was eradicated many years ago.”
Possum Drop — Brasstown
Let’s preface this with an important message: Brasstown no longer drops a live possum in a glass case when the clock strikes midnight.
The tradition continued in western North Carolina for 24 years before Brasstown called it quits in 2018, the News & Observer reported.
Held at the store Clay’s Corner, owner and event organizer Clay Logan told the Cherokee Scout at the time that it was “a hard job to do, and it’s time to move on.”
Animal rights activists took issue with the possum drop for years, prompting Logan to consider using something “opossum-related” during an ongoing legal battle with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in 2014, the Asheville-Citizen Times reported.
He mentioned switching to roadkill or a pot of possum stew.
The Clay’s Corner website maintained no possums were ever hurt during the annual event, according to the News & Observer.
“We celebrate in honor of this marsupial!” the since-deleted website stated.
Pickle Drop — Mount Olive
The Pickle Drop is in honor of the Mt. Olive Pickle Company, a popular pickle supplier founded in North Carolina in the 1920s.
This year, the three-and-a-half foot pickle will drop promptly at 7 p.m. But it won’t be at the corner of Cucumber and Vine, as in years past.
Officials said the 20th annual pickle drop will instead hail from the night sky at the University of Mount Olive, making room “for several new twists.”
It’s a temporary move due to ongoing construction at Mount Olive’s pickle plant, where a few employees first dropped a pickle to ring in the new year in 1999.
This year’s festivities include a 10-minute fireworks display and food trucks. Several thousand people are expected to attend.
The usual line dancing, free pickles and canned food drive will go on as scheduled, and the drop itself will be live-streamed.
Pirate Drop — Beaufort
Hosted by the Beaufort Development Association, the annual pirate drop in the coastal town rich in pirate history is exactly what one would imagine.
The event features Capt’n Shack walking the plank and “taking all of our grievances from (the past year) to the depths of Taylor Creek with him,” according to a 2017 Facebook invite.
The mannequin pirate will take the plunge at 7 p.m. this year, thus concluding the festivities at a family-friendly hour.
Nugget Drop — Marion
Tucked on the outskirts of Pisgah National Forest about 35 miles east of Asheville, residents of Marion celebrate New Year’s Eve with a “Gold Nugget Drop.”
Officials advertise it as a “free, fun, quirky celebration” complete with a comic con costume contest and a 5K run/walk.
The real festivities start at midnight, when a 6-foot, 80-pound golden nugget made up of 300 triangles, internal lights and gold flakes is slowly lowered into a freshly-baked giant donut.
Onlookers are invited to enjoy a free piece of the 10-foot donut after midnight, according to the Facebook invite.
The gold nugget is a nod to the state’s history of gold discovery.
Marion is also home to the N.C. Gold Foundation.
This story was originally published December 27, 2019 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Pickles, pirates and a 30-pound flea: Here are ways North Carolina rings in 2020."
