Medicine Hat to play host to Ribfest, a showcase of all things barbecue
Meat lovers of Medicine Hat, mark the Sept. 8-10 weekend with a bright red marker on your calendar.
The weekend marks the city’s first ever Ribfest, a weekend celebrating and showcasing slow-cooked ribs, barbecue chicken and pulled pork.
“Ontario has had so many of these events over the years, and we’re excited to be bringing Ribfest to Alberta,” said lead organizer for Ribfest Canada Les Gagne. “Really, Ribfest is a celebration of barbecue. We saw other events that were based around barbecue in Alberta, but they were more contests where people are spectators. At Ribfest, we’re not going to tease you. People can buy whatever they want to eat.”
The weekend is free to attend for anyone of any age, with people paying for whatever they wish to eat for the day. It also features contests between cooks called Ribbers.
“The Ribbers will face off in competitions in pork, ribs and chicken,” he said. “We have a ton of contests revolved around cooking, sauces and eating, we try to appeal to as many people as possible really. Our pulled pork eating contest will actually use members of the public to decide a champion.”
The tour will start in Edmonton and end in Medicine Hat, with a team of four to five Ribbers travelling across the province to cook at each Ribfest. Gagne says he could not believe Alberta did not have annual barbecue celebrations across the province.
“In Ontario we’ve had Ribfests for 25 years, and now there’s probably 70 Ribfests every year in Ontario” he said. “We branched out to Alberta last year and people had no idea what Ribfest was. We thought that was odd because Alberta is the cattle capital of Canada. After last year we’ve decided that this is something people in Alberta should experience.”
The event will feature entertainment for people of every age, with a kids zone, live music and competitions running throughout the day.
Though the event is based around ribs, chicken and pork, Gagne says there are meatless alternatives.
“We want this to be something that everyone can experience — we don’t want it to be exclusive to meat eaters,” he said. “We’ve always tried to offer some potato options, and now we’re looking to bring corn on the cob to our Alberta events so people who may not eat meat can have something to eat. There will also be a corn on the cob eating event for people to enjoy.”
For more information on the event check out its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/medicinehatribfest