Loyalist City RibFest Is Relocating to the Saint John Waterfront This Year
SAINT JOHN – The Loyalist City RibFest has drawn as many as 50,000 people to Exhibition Park over four days each year. Organizers are betting they can make it even bigger by hosting it this year on the Saint John waterfront.
After three years in East Saint John, committee chair Peter Wilkins says RibFest will take place this June on Long Wharf June 14-17 because it’s a bigger, more wide-open expanse.
“Long Wharf is a larger space than Exhibition Park and offers a little more flexibility in terms of space. We’re hoping to grow the RibFest and the more space allowed us to do that” said Wilkins, who has been on the organizing committee since it started three years ago.
Wilkins was amongst those people concerned that parking would be an issue. But he was surprised by the size of Long Wharf when they did a walkabout there.
“There are people that wanted us to move uptown from the start but, personally, I didn’t realize Long Wharf was as large as it is,” he said. “I thought we might lose some of our parking but I think there’s more room for parking there than Exhibition Park. We had no interest in moving somewhere people couldn’t park.”
The parking is free for RibFest – as is the admission – but the Saint John Y’s Men’s Club is the organizer of the event and parking donations are part of the way the organization funds their charitable community activities throughout the year.
Wilkins also says they’ll also hope it will become part of the uptown scene that weekend and keep people around longer to enjoy the bands that play in conjunction with the RibFest itself.
“We’ve got entertainment all weekend, so what we’ve been trying to do is encourage people to stick around and listen to the bands,” said Wilkins. “Hopefully, being uptown we can become part of the nightlife for those three nights and four days. People will stick around more than they were able to at Exhibition Park.”
There will be 14 local bands performing throughout the weekend. They have 40 applicants for those slots but they have yet to determine a final lineup.
The same “pit masters” will also be back: Crabby’s BBQ Shack, Camp 31, Texas Rangers, and Billy Bones.
The rib masters also grill things like chicken and brisket for people who don’t like ribs, says Wilkins, and other food vendors will be on site as well, such as Tater King, Alabama Lemonade, Tiki Tea, Jolly Rancher Slushies, and Blooming Onion.
Victoria Clarke, executive director of Discover Saint John and who attends RibFest every year, said the Y’s Men asked her about a venue that might allow them to grow and she connected them with Port Saint John.
“Long Wharf is going to be a riot,” said Clarke, who loves the “circus-like” atmosphere of RibFest. “We’ve seen with events like Area 506 the foot traffic that creates. It’ll put a different group of people there [who can] have access to it at lunchtime [Thursday and Friday].
Clarke says Exhibition Park has been a great location, but Long Wharf will allow them to attract the crowd that has supported it so far and add new people to the mix.
“It’s been fantastic [at Exhibition Park],” said Clarke. “The Y’s Men put on a great show. Maybe it’ll bring in some people that haven’t been uptown in awhile. Maybe it’ll bring some people from Uptown that haven’t been to RibFest.
“It’ll be great to have people walking on Harbour Passage to go down there and get ribs.”
RELATED: Area 506 Makes it Official: The Popular Waterfront Festival Will Return Next Year