Celebrate Pickle Day by Floating in a Giant Vat of Pickles

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National Pickle Week, 1949. With the Three Stooges.
The Pickle Queen poses with the Three Stooges during National Pickle Week, 1949.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
By Eliza Berman

There are many ways to celebrate National Pickle Day on Nov. 14, the tastiest of which would be to enjoy a half-sour or a kosher dill. Another option? Floating in giant vat of pickles, as modeled by Mr. Dill Pickle, a fortuitously named resident of Mississippi, during the inaugural Pickle Week celebration in 1949.

In what may be the most alliterative article ever published in LIFE magazine—“Packers preach their product’s perfection with a peck of publicity,” reads the deck below the headline—an image of Mr. Pickle appears above a description of the activities organized by the National Pickle Packer’s Association:

They invented liquor-flavored pickles, crowned a Pickle Queen amid flaming pickles in a Chicago nightclub, and proclaimed as their Man of the Year Mr. Dill Lamar Pickle of Rolling Fork, Miss., who obligingly posed in a vat of pickles.

From a business standpoint, the week was a success: Pickle sales increased by 22%. From a floating-in-a-vat-of-brined-cucumbers perspective: also a major win.

Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

Mr. Dill Pickle of Mississippi reclines happily in a rubber boat amid 204,681 soggy pickles.
Caption from LIFE. Mr. Dill Pickle of Mississippi reclines happily in a rubber boat amid 204,681 soggy pickles.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pickle Week, 1949.
A giant pickle adorns the front of a car for National Pickle Week, 1949.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pickle Week, 1949.
Men take a break after stacking barrels of pickles for National Pickle Week, 1949.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Man showing off pickles for National Pickle Week, 1949.
A man delivers a presentation on pickles during National Pickle Week, 1949.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pickle Week, 1949.
Drinking out of a pickle, National Pickle Week, 1949.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pickle Week, 1949.
Putting finishing touches on a gigantic pickle, National Pickle Week, 1949.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pickle Week, 1949. With the Three Stooges.
The Pickle Queen poses with the Three Stooges during National Pickle Week, 1949. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pickle Week, 1949.
The Pickle Queen, National Pickle Week, 1949.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Models showing off pickles for National Pickle Week, 1949.
Models show off pickles for National Pickle Week, 1949.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pickle Week, 1949.
Group shot with Pickle Queen, the Three Stooges and others during National Pickle Week, 1949.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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Write to Eliza Berman at eliza.berman@time.com