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Ribs on the Rainy set to go this weekend in Fort Frances

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The first-ever RibFest in Fort Frances takes place this weekend.

Ribs on the Rainy is a three-day event, taking place near the Sorting Gap Marina, starting on Friday.

Committee member Catrina Caira says three trucks specializing in ribs, as part of a national tour, will visit.

“There are basically two major travelling rib teams, Eastern and Western. These guys are from the Eastern set,” says Kaira.

“They travel across the country doing ribfests, selling ribs and competing. When you actually go to a ribfest, in front of the trucks, they usually have tables with all the awards that they’ve won.”

“There’s usually also some people that will have sauce samples you can taste before you decide which rib team you’re going to buy ribs from.”

All three of the trucks are Canadian-owned.

The team known as Texas Rangers Barbecue has been operating and competing at RibFest events for more than 20 years.

The other teams, Mississippi Smokehouse hails from London, Ontario, with Smoky Rebel Barbecue hails from the East Coast and is one of the newer teams to the RibFest circuit.

All three will go head-to-head for the top award to be determined by a team of judges that includes Fort Frances Mayor Andrew Hallikas.

“The Big Rib Fest competition is going to be at 3 p.m. on Sunday,” says Kaira.

There will be other activities coinciding with the ribs.

There will be live music each night, including a repeat performance from the contestants who performed in this summer’s Kids Quest and Quest for the Best.

Space Race out of Kenora and Sage McBride and Tim Newton from the band Shred Kelly will perform Friday night.

King of None takes the stage on Saturday night, with Jill Loryn, a singer-songwriter from Emo, performing Sunday evening.

“We’re going to have the stage. We’re going to have a bar. We’re going to have a kid zone with bouncy castles. We’re going to have vendors and booths and tables set up, so it should be a pretty fun event,” says Kaira.

The gates open this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m.

There is no admission charge, but there is a cost to taste the food offered by the food trucks.

Burger Wars JP photo

Fort Frances council delays decision on support for new food festival

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Fort Frances council will decide later this month if they will support a new RibFest event.

An unnamed consortium of cross-Canada touring rib trucks approached the town last fall to see if the community was interested in hosting a three-day food festival.

The event, hailed as Ribs on the Rainy, would feature three trucks connected to the tour, live entertainment, and a local vendors market, along with other activities such as games, rides, and contests.

The group wants the event held in later September, but near dates the locally-organized Burger Wars set for a return to last year’s highly successful event.

The town is also being asked for $15,000 in sponsorship money, another $5,000 in contigency support.

Councillor Bill Morrison is concerned with that ask.

“If we do open up to pay for what they’re asking here then it might set a precedent for every other event that comes, next year for Burger Wars. Would we be able to give them $15,000 to set up, or anybody else that has something?, questions Morrison.

Morrison is also concerned about the impact on Burger Wars, and other area events scheduled for the same month.

Burger Wars organizers recently announced plans to postpone this year’s event, stating on social media that while flattered by other organizations that were interested in hosting food-related festivals, the time-slot considered would create conflicts with vendors, sponsors and volunteers.

It opted to postpone until 2027.

Councillor John McTaggart says while he supports the rib food festival, he is concerned it is coming at the expense of Burger Wars.

“I have just a concern that we’ve stopped something that was very successful last year from repeating again this year and bringing in RibFest,” says McTaggart.

“I want to bring in events, economic development and spin-off benefits and all that. The more we have, the better we are,” adds Councillor Mike Behan.

“It’s just unfortunate that it just conflicted right away. Instead of being complimentary, they’re conflicting and that’s causing some hard feelings.”

Community Services Manager Craig Miller feels there is enough support in the community to have both events.

“Most people that I’ve spoken to have indicated that, burgers and ribs are obviously two different foods and they tend to eat out at least once a week, so they would probably go both to Burger Wars and Rib Fest,” says Miller.

Council tabled a decision until after having further discussions with the organizers of Burger Wars.

The issue is expected to come back before council at their next meeting.