Bagel Street Deli’s 17th Annual Pickle Fest ended with Keaton Vagedes as the winner for eating eight pickles in 10 minutes. Bagel Street Deli bought more than 300 pickles for the occasion.
Bagel Street Deli employees lined up the first round of pickle-eating lovers with baskets of pickles surrounding them as they waited for Lenny Meyer, the co-owner of Bagel Street Deli, to yell “3...2...1...Eat Pickle.”
All 42 contestants of Bagel Street Deli’s intense Pickle Fest had the opportunity to consume about 300 pickles between them while they were surrounded by the crowded restaurant with enthusiastic spectators.
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The 17th annual competition concluded Friday with Keaton Vagedes as the winner for eating a total of eight pickles. Vagedes will name his bagel the Eat’n Keat’n.
Bagel Street Deli raised $175 and will write a check of $500 to the Kyra Kurt Willner Global Travel Scholarship. Kyra Kurt Willner was a student at OU and an employee of Bagel Street Deli who died in a car accident in December.
Fourteen participants competed in the first round tables, and employees stood in front of the contestants at each table to keep score and cheer for the contestant.
Pickle Fest has three rules: Participants must finish each pickle for it to count, do not mutilate the pickle, and if a contestant “makes relish,” they are disqualified.
The competition drew cheers and yelling similar to those at a wrestling match. Meyer acted as a moderator and narrated the competition.
“Pickle number five is proving a difficult pickle,” he said as the contestants seemed to slow down on their fifth pickle.
In the first heat, one contestant used the “double-fisting” method, as he held two pickles and alternated eating them. Another contestant wore a GoPro to fully capture the pickle-eating.
Michelle Wilson, an investment broker in Athens, won the first heat by eating a total of six pickles. “Just one more bite,” she said she kept thinking as she competed.
“I feel like I’m not going to want anymore pickles,” she said. “I don’t know when I’m going to want another pickle.”
The second heat started at 4:30 p.m. with 16 participants, and even though the crowd shrunk down, the cheers were just as loud as spectators chanted “Never stop eating pickles.”
The second heat ended in a tie between Gilbert “The Gillinator” Moore, a design engineer, and David “Ice Cube” Gearhart, a fifth-year senior studying geology, for eating seven pickles.
By the third heat, some contestants prepared for the final round with “pickle yoga” and meditating.
Keaton “Eat’n Keat’n,” Vagedes, a junior studying music production, won the third heat out of the 12 participants with a total of eight pickles. His technique was to take multiple bites of a pickle at once and take more time chewing. After claiming the title Pickle Fest Champion of 2016, Vagedes said he felt full and accomplished.
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“Six minutes in, it just hurt,” Vagedes said. “I would definitely do this again.”
Vagedes won a T-shirt and the opportunity to name a bagel to go on the special’s menu. The sandwich will be on the menu forever. Vagedes personalized bagel, the Eat’n Keat’n, will have grilled cheese, turkey and pickles.
“If I’m back in town next year, I’m definitely doing it again,” Gearhart said. “I love the camaraderie. It seems like a really tight-knit group of people, and it’s for a really good cause.”
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