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Fire up the grill—it’s RibFest time

Kelowna’s City Park will be a rib-lovers paradise this weekend.
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Image credit: Alistair Water/Capital News

The second annual Kelowna Interior Savings Sunrise Rotary RibFest gets underway Friday afternoon in City Park.

And this year, organizers are hoping to see even more carnivores on site.

Event chairman Brian Wrightson of Sunrise Rotary said last year 18,000 people showed up over the 2 1/2 days of RibFest.

“This year, I’ll be delighted if we can push that to 25,000,” he said Friday, hours before the “ribbers” fired up their grills and started cooking up their popular, tasty, sticky, sauce-sodden specialties.

For non-rib types there will also be chicken available and other foods as well.

Admission is free and in addition to the stars-of-the-show—the ribs–there will also be music, a beer garden, activities for the kids and, if ribs aren’t your culinary choice, a collection of food trucks will be on hand offering other fare.

According to Wrightson, rib festivals are very popular in Eastern Canada and are starting to take off in the West. Kelowna is just many Interior in communities now holding rib festivals.

He said a special effort has been made here to make the event as family friendly as possible and that’s why there is a special emphasis on activities for the kids.

Last year, the event raised $26,000 for a number of charities that Rotary supports,with the main charity this year being Shoe Bank Canada.

As was done last year, a panel of judges will choose the best ribs on offer in Kelowna and crown the winner. New this year will be a BBQ sauce competition featuring members of the local media. That competition is slated to kick off the event Friday afternoon.

RibFest 2017 will run from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. today and from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday.

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Jim and Gwen Kessler of Kelowna enjoying Rib Fest 2017 in Kelowna’s City Park. - Image: Alistair Waters