An estimated 10,000 people had a rib tickling good time at 6th Annual Voyageur Ribfest

Organizers estimate as many as 10,000 people went through the gates at this year’s 6th Annual Voyageur Ribfest in North Bay.

“Ribfest is always a welcome time for my family. They love coming up here and having the ribs and seeing all the vendors and playing in the kid's zone. Saturday they had wrestling here which was a great, great time,” said Dwight Wagner.

“My in-laws were in town yesterday afternoon. They came down and really had a great time. They want to come back again next year.”

Joshua Pride has attended Ribfest for the past four years.

“The atmosphere is a lot of fun, just like every year. People are here to eat ribs and get together. It’s a great place for the family to come and hang out for the day,” said Pride.

“The ribs are a definite draw, but I also come here with the theatre program I run which is Summer Challenge. We’ve been fortunate to come to here to perform a few times. Come for the job, stay for the ribs.”   

Festival organizer and a part owner of the Voyageur, Geoff Richardson is excited by the turnout. Even Friday night’s rain wasn’t enough to keep most people away.

“There always is rain for some reason, I don’t know what it is, but once the rain was out of the way Friday, people came out in droves on Saturday. Actually, every band took the stage and played on Friday. We still had people in the crowd underneath tents. North Bay is die hard for great live music.”    

Richardson is pleased with the overall turnout.

“The crowds have been amazing. North Bay has really embraced this festival as kind of a real grassroots type of feel, very welcoming for everybody. It’s accessible because it’s totally free. You don’t have to pay a cent in here unless you want to. All the kid's zone is free, the entertainment is free. You have to pay for food and drink but that’s about it.”

Richardson bases the festival’s success on the fact organizers are constantly striving to improve on the previous year, rather than resting on their laurels.

“We’re always tweaking it and changing it and introducing new attractions every year, and we’ll always continue to do that. We’re not a festival that just says it was great the first year and let’s just let it rip, like carbon copy next year and the year after. We always try to put some thought into how we can make it different, how we can make it interesting,” said Richardson.

“The paddle boat bumper boats were new this year, and they were a hit, especially given the weather. Northern Stunt Dogs put on a performance and we had theatre groups. We had just a really good variety of events, and we had more vendors here than any year past, so it’s really taken on that festival feel.”

Throughout the weekend people were asked to vote for their favourite ribber.

The Judge’s Choice award went to Jack the Ribber. And the winner of this year’s People’s Choice award is Smokehouse Bandits.

Donations were collected over the weekend for Community Living North Bay. Over the past five years, the festival has raised over $30,000 for the organization, which provides services and supports to people who have intellectual disabilities, as well as their families in North Bay and surrounding area.  

A total of 8635.00 was raised at Ribfest for Community Living North Bay.