CORNWALL, Ontario – If you love ribs (and based on the streams of people leaving Lamoureux Park with their belts loosened, we know you do) this will be good news.
Ribfest 2016 is expanding to four days from three.
The Cornwall Seaway Lions Club, which organizes the popular summer event, confirmed the news Thursday.
“The ribbers show up on the Tuesday and they sit around waiting until Friday,” said club president Shirley Ravary. “So we thought we should start on Thursday.”
To be exact, it will be 3 p.m. on Thursday July 21. The 2016 event will mark the fifth anniversary for the event that has seen thousands of people converge on Lamoureux Park for all things smoked, grilled and fried.
“It’s growing every year and we want to put on a good show,” said Lions club second vice-president Julia Lucio.
But in that time Ribfest has taken its lumps, too. Organizers have heard from critics, who have suggested the event compromises local business at the expense of bringing in outside ribbers to provide food for the masses.
Ravary said the event benefits the community through fundraising.
She points to some $65,000 Ribfest has generated the last two years for local charitable work, including $20,000 that has been donated to the Cornwall Community Hospital for its new mental health facfility and another $11,000 for Cornwall Hospice, not to mention a host of others.
“We want the community to know the money stays here,” she said.
But what about the suggestion that local restaurants suffer when Ribfest comes to town?
John Lucio, chair of Ribfest, said the ribbers are part of a touring culinary caravan that makes stops across North America – not unlike a carnival or circus.
“They put through a lot of ribs,” he said. “I don’t know of anyone in town who could do that,” he said.
His wife Julia, second vice-president of the club, said any local business can sign up to take part in Ribfest as a vendor, including restaurants, with one caveat.
“Anyone can be in Ribfest – as long as you’re not selling ribs,” she said. “The vendors can all be local.”
Another change for next year’s event will be a slight drop in the number of ribbers taking part. Pig Kahuna has a scheduling conflict and won’t be able to attend the Cornwall event, reducing the number of ribbers to six from seven.
