The 14th annual Brantford Kinsmen Ribfest will be returning to the Civic Centre from Friday, August 9 through Sunday, August 11, 2024.
While last year’s event was originally cancelled due to the lack of sponsors and volunteers, organizers were able to rework the weekend-long event for a drive-thru style Ribfest.
“Lately, we’ve been seeing several longtime events starting to fade away because it has become increasingly difficult to secure not only volunteers, but sponsorships as well,” said Jeff Harding, Entertainment Coordinator of the Brantford Kinsmen Ribfest. “Last year we just didn’t have those helping hands and so we had to adjust, but we’re really looking forward to being back to our regular programming this year.”
Harding says that residents looking to attend the free-entry event can expect to experience plenty of good family fun, delicious food, and great music.
“There’s going to be live music all weekend long, a kids zone with inflatable attractions, a vendor market, beer garden and of course, we’re going to have our five pro-ribbers onsite; Route 55, Brickyard BBQ, Crazy Canucks, Razorback BBQ and Gator BBQ,” he said.
Harding said that this year’s ribbers will be competing for the title of best ribs, best chicken, best sauce, best pig rig and people’s choice awards.
Guests will also have the chance to indulge in other great festival foods like roasted corn on the cob, bloomin’ onions and funnel cakes to name a few,
On Friday night, the event will kick off at 4:00 p.m. with an opening ceremony and words from local dignitaries, and the evening’s entertainment is set to start with Jack Sith at 6:00 p.m. and headliner, Freedom Train, will end out the night.
The fun continues on Saturday as the gates to the grounds will open at 11:00 a.m.. The day’s entertainment will feature performances from Three Legged Horse, the Tyler Wilson Band, BarCode, and the headliner for the evening is AC/DC tribute band, Squeeler.
The gates will open once again at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday for the final day of the event. HighBanks Bluegrass Band will kick off the entertainment at noon, followed by the Jesse Murphy Trio and headliner, the Whiskey Chasers, will close out the annual Ribfest with their performance from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Harding said that himself and the rest of the team are feeling optimistic about the event and are looking forward to seeing guests of all ages having some fun.
“I was a West Brant kid growing up and I was downtown in Eagle Place all the time, and so for me, it’s personally really rewarding to see the people that I have grown up with, bring their kids to this event and enjoy it as a community,” he said. “For the music side of it, events and festivals like this, are oftentimes the first time that children are seeing live music and seeing somebody play guitar or rip on a piano, so I like to make that as positive as it can be.”
He said that all of this wouldn’t be possible without the help of this year’s sponsors.
“Big shoutout to our sponsors this year, they really pulled through and helped make this happen and we’re happy to have such great people on board,” he said. “Our beer garden sponsors this year are Vaultra Storage, Sassy Britches Brewing, and Vodka Friday. Our vendor marketplace sponsors are Sunbelt Rentals and Lancaster Construction. Our kids zone sponsor is Hickory Dickory Decks, our flossing station sponsor is Amber Dental and the City of Brantford Healthy Kids Program are sponsoring our quench buggy.”
The entertainment coordinator said that while putting on the event is a lot of work that takes nearly a year to organize, it’s all worth it in the end.
“It’s a lot of work leading up to it, but once it actually rolls around and things are happening, it’s quite an enjoyable experience,” said Harding. “We have some great people working to put this together and that makes such a difference when you’re organizing something like this.”
Brantford’s Ribfest will run on Friday, August 9, from 4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., Saturday, August 10 from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and Sunday, August 11 from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
