Richmond Hill Ribfest 2014

Richmond Green Park 1300 Elgin Mills Road East Website: http://www.richmondhill.ca/subpage.asp?pageid=ribfest

Tummy Points: 3/5 Notes: Ribs 1/3 rack: ~$9, 1/2 rack: $13, full rack: $23

The Richmond Hill Ribfest is a three-day outdoor event that features professional rib teams from across North America.  They even have carnival games and activities for kids.  They have other carnival foods along with ribs but ribs take center stage.

A huge inflatable dinosaur welcomes visitors:
Parking is free and it’s fairly easy to find one in the large lot.

The carnival includes play to win games and activities for kid:

It’s fairly quiet because most of the visitors are eating.  The great thing is admission is free.

This is where to buy ribs:

Lots of choices with huge billboards.  And they all have awards in front to impress.

More ribs

Camp 31 had the longest line but they go through the line fairly quickly. I was tempted by the lemonade stand.  Most places had pulled pork and chicken but no sausages and no brisket.

And even more ribs

There’s even onion blooms, fresh fried chips, beaver tails, ice cream, and other foods you’ll find at the CNE. But ribs take the center stage here.  And the most important fact, they also serve beer.

Grill master

Pappy’s Olde Fashion Soda Pop:

I got my metal cup from here where, for $8, you get the cup and choose any drink you want to fill it with. Refills are $3.  There’s 7 flavors to choose from: Orange Drink, Diet Birch Beer, Loganberry, Birch Beer, Raging Root Beer, Cream Soda, Butter Beer.  I got Birch Beer which tasted like light root beer.

Eating tent
They had cleaning stations with water and sanitizer.  They even had wet naps and bibs at the tables under the tent.

The open area with live music
The music was decent.

And finally the ribs I got from Billy Bones BBQ:

Billy Bones BBQ had the second longest line so a 1/2 rack from them.

Very saucy
The ribs are the Northern kind which are wet with lots of BBQ sauce.  The sauce has a slight kick and very vinegary.  The meat is on the tougher drier side so they don’t fall off the bone.  Due to the limitations of the venue, ribs are re-cooked/pre-smoked and generally stored in containers then pulled out when needed and put on the grill to warm up.

It’s a good event that is a great place to take the family. Good food, good music, and games for the whole family.  But for a foodie, the ribfest has good ribs but I much prefer the dry ribs from the well known BBQ joints in Texas.