Protesters crash event promoting rib festival
You can join in with the rib eaters or the rib protesters when the third annual RibFest Kelowna gets going next weekend in City Park.
The Sunrise Rotary Club is raising money for JoeAnna’s house, a 20-bedroom space where out-of-town families of patients at Kelowna General Hospital can stay. At any given time, one in four hospital beds is occupied by a patient from outside the Central Okanagan.
“RibFest encourages families to come downtown for all the right reasons,” said Mayor Colin Basran at the event kickoff on Wednesday.
Not everyone agrees. Nine protesters stood at the fringes of the news conference, though more are expected for the Aug. 24-26 event.
“Our goal is to make people aware,” said Jodie Castor, a professor at UBC Okanagan. “They advertise family fun, completely ignoring the complex cognitive lives of pigs.”
“Meat is proven to cause heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, strokes,” said fellow protester Karen Spiewe. “The Rotary Club does great work, but it’s ironic that they’re raising money for a KGH initiative with this.”
The protesters had sent a letter to the Rotary Club outlining their concerns, but received what they called an unsatisfactory response.
“They said it was just our opinion,” said Spiewe. “It’s not opinion, it’s fact.”
Rotary Club members didn’t seem too concerned about the protesters.
“They came out, good for them,” said Rotary volunteer Graham Bell. “They can enjoy the entertainment, the ambiance.”
“We’ve had vegetarian options since the beginning, if people want to make that choice,” said former RibFest chairman Brian Wrightson. “We want to respect the protesters . . . We’ll agree to disagree.”
RibFest is growing in popularity every year. Organizers are hoping for 30,000 people to come out this year, and their fundraising target is $75,000.
Thirteen musical artists will provide almost non-stop live entertainment. Bouncy castles and a free KidsZone will be available for those with a shorter attention span.