THUNDER BAY - With ribs this good, a little, or even a lot of rain, wasn’t going to stop the people of Thunder Bay from lining up for a final taste of Ribfest.
The annual festival wrapped up on a very wet and dreary Sunday, and while the tables looked pretty empty, the lineups were still long.
“I remember coming out last year and the ribs were really good so I decided to come out again,” said Brody Forster. “I’m hoping they are as good as last year.”
“This is the first time I’ve been to Ribfest,” said 11-year-old, Nathan. “My mom said we should get a full rack of each one and split them up.”
Neither Nathan nor Brody were bothered by the rain and even the ribbers were excited to see so many people lined up with umbrellas and raincoats.
“Look at the line, in the rain, it’s great,” said Matik Buchanan of Route 55.
Ribfest, now in its sixth year, serves as one of the major fundraisers for Our Kids Count. Gladys Berringer, executive director with Our Kids Count, said she is a little disappointed with the weather on Sunday, but is confident the weekend will still be a success.
“The exciting thing is that Thunder Bay has been good to us,” she said. “Friday and Saturday were awesome days. We sold our 50/50 out. Had that not happened, it would have made a huge impact on what we were able to raise.”
In past years, Ribfest has seen attendance numbers in the 30,000 range. Berringer said she thinks that number might be closer to 20,000 given the weather on Sunday, but she still expects the weekend will raise between $60,000 and $70,000 in support of Our Kids Count programming.
“This is our major fundraiser that we use to raise the funds we need to support our program,” she said. “We are very excited with all the community support.”
Helping to reach that goal was the Red River Rumble just one block over on Cumberland Street. The car show, which used to be held on Red River Road, usually raises more than $20,000 in support of Our Kids Count, and this year there was a record number of entries of classic cars, hotrods, and motorcycles.
And while not all those who entered were able to attend because of the rain, volunteer John Trevisanutto said the wet weather didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits.
“I was astounded by the number of people that did show up,” he said. “I think we had about 100 cars show up. So Kudos to everybody from Thunder Bay for coming out and supporting this event for Our Kids Count. It’s awesome.”
“A lot of them won’t take their cars out in the rain, but they did this year, and that means a lot to us,” Trevisanutto continued. “It shows that they understand what we are supporting here, which is Our Kids Count. I can’t say enough about the people of Thunder Bay who supported this show.”
As for the ribs, local restaurants battled it out for best ribs, with Beaux Daddy's taking home the coveted top prize.
“It feels great,” said Beaux Daddy's head chef, Jason MacKenzie. “I’m super happy for Beaux Daddy's and super happy for my team and that we won. Mom’s really proud, she’s in the audience today, so that was pretty nice.”
