Childhood friends claim victory at Cal Poly’s inaugural Pickle Fest
Business student Zach Schmidt and psychology student Andrew Loehr have been best friends since second grade. Now seniors at Cal Poly, the duo worked their way to pickleball victory after years of playing the game together.
“I think that connection might have helped us win this game, we just love playing it,” Loehr said.
Schmidt and Loehr went by the team name of “Dink City” at Cal Poly Associated Students, Inc.’s (ASI) first-ever “Pickle Fest” on April 4, celebrating the grand opening of the newly installed pickleball courts at the upper sports complex, accompanied by actual pickles.
Chair of the University Union Advisory Board, Marc Cabeliza, was one of the minds behind this idea after seeing on social media that “Picklefests” – festivals celebrating pickles – were being held globally.
“We said, ‘you know what, why not bring that here in San Luis Obispo?,’” Cabeliza said.
Within the first hour of the event, almost 250 students arrived to watch the 48 intramural teams compete for the grand prize – an intramural champion T-shirt and a paddle with the ASI logo on one side and the words “I’m a big dill!” on the other, according to Cabeliza.
Pickles, water, pickle-themed stickers and games like Spikeball were available for those who weren’t competing in the tournament. Campus resources like Safer, Campus Health & Wellbeing and PULSE were on display to attendees at the turf soccer fields of the complex.
“Friday Night Live, which is part of the county of San Luis Obispo, wanted to participate and sponsor the intramural league kind of tournament,” Cabeliza said. “Because they were coming here, we decided why not just bring some other campus entities and other campus organizations to kind of promote mental health and well-being.”
As the pops of paddles hitting wiffle balls echoed across the courts, the sharp aroma of pickles filled the air. The event lived up to its name as pickles were made readily available to attendees, alongside hotdogs with the option of pickle ketchup. Landscape architecture senior and self-proclaimed pickle lover, Owen Fitzgerland, said he came to the event primarily for the briny snacks.
“I really like the music, it’s great weather,” Fitzgerald said. “I think it all just kind of combines to create a great aroma of pickles and friends. It’s just having a good time.”
Live music from student bands such as Dill Pickleson Experience kept the energy high as teams battled for a spot in the finals under the hot sun.
After four rounds, Schmidt and Loehr were crowned the winners of the pickleball tournament. Though elated with their overall success, the duo was especially thrilled to achieve a goal they’ve carried throughout their time at Cal Poly.
“We’ve done intramurals every single year, and we’ve never won a t-shirt,” Schmidt said. “It’s been our dream and our goal to get an intramural t-shirt, and we finally did it.”
Fueled by friendly competition and a shared love of all things “pickle,” the first-ever Pickle Fest came to an end at 4 p.m. More information on upcoming events from ASI can be found on their Instagram or website.
