Soured: Pittsburgh pickle balloon popped when it was being installed for the holiday season
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2020 continues to deflate.
A giant pickle ornament that was supposed to be the perfect backdrop for a selfie in Downtown Pittsburgh was canned before its planned debut Friday, according to the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.
The ornament was being tested Wednesday for a final time when installers heard a loud pop.
The 35-foot vinyl pickle suffered a large tear, and it flattened on the ground at EQT Plaza on Liberty Avenue, Downtown.
“A sliced pickle just won’t cut it,” said Jeremy Waldrup, president and CEO of the PDP.
Waldrup got a call around 9:30 a.m. while he was nearby at the Peoples Gas Holiday Market in Market Square. Waldrup thought the person who called him was kidding.
“This is a really big dill, but we still have a ton more to offer this holiday season,” Waldrup said. “While this pickle may have deflated, our spirits for a great holiday season have not.”
BREAKING: the World's Largest Pickle Ornament is being canned after an unfortunate rip during installation.
Read more on the very 2020 news ➡️ https://t.co/GT1RtHE1Wy pic.twitter.com/xwT3Tdrk19
— Downtown Pittsburgh (@DowntownPitt) November 25, 2020
The giant custom-made Heinz pickle balloon ornament, designed to be suspended 50 feet in the air, was a new feature this holiday season, hanging 50 feet in the air. The pickle reflects a German-American holiday tradition of hiding an ornamental pickle on the family Christmas tree, with the first person to find it receiving an extra gift or a year of good luck. The decoration was made possible through a gift from Kraft Heinz.
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The PDP said that, rather than “brine” about it, they are embracing the sheer craziness of it all.
“Much like a bus in a sinkhole (from last year’s holiday season), this latest Pickleburst is just another oddity to overcome on the long list of the year that is — still — 2020,” according to a PDP news release.
The pickle lay motionless on the ground next to its golden ornamental crown. It was to be the world’s largest pickle ornament, Waldrup said. It is the same blow-up pickle used for the annual Picklesburgh, the all-things-pickle festival that was rated the No. 1 specialty food festival in a USA Today poll two years in a row. The balloon hangs above the Roberto Clemente Bridge during the festivals.
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The vinyl balloon is five years old and was made by the same company that creates the flying balloons for the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York City — Raven Industries out of Sioux Falls, S.D. Waldrup hadn’t contacted them about the pickle’s plight.
The pickle ornament was part of the PDP’s mission to reimagine the holidays to keep every safe because of the pandemic. It is beyond repair for this year.
“We are deflated by this — 2020 has struck again,” Waldrup said. “But we will see the pickle again.”