Ribfest brings tasty tradition back to Dartmouth waterfront for 11th year

The 12th annual Harbourside RibFest kicks-off at Alderney Landing in Dartmouth.

The Rotary Club of Halifax Harbour is excited to bring back the Harbourside Ribfest for its 11^th year at Alderney Landing in Dartmouth, N.S.

“It’s a great community social kind of thing, we raise a bunch of money, you know $50-to-$70,000 on the weekend that goes back into charities around the city,” said Clark Paynter, co-chair of Ribfest.

“Maritime Ribfest is so unique. We are so grateful to be touring these wonderful provinces from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and everywhere in between,” said Jamie Williams, pitmaster for Camp 31 BBQ.

“Halifax holds a special place in our heart, too. We have a ton of fun when we come to town. The people are incredibly friendly. They’re super receptive to this wonderful barbecue we’re cooking.”

“I like the people here. Everybody’s so friendly. They are so appreciative of the event coming all the way here,” said Felipe Barrera, pitmaster for Texas Rangers BBQ.

Doors open at 11 a.m. and run until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. It all wraps up Sunday at 7 p.m. Admission is $2 with proceeds going back into the community.

“I was born and raised in Colombia, so I’m family oriented. I love being part of it like this, you know, especially like there’s other charity organizations that help us like Big Brothers Big Sisters and, you know, Make-A-Wish Foundation,” said Barrera.

“And we always like to give back to the community because we’re here because of them.”

“We have seven beautiful flavours of sauce that people love coming here to try,” said Williams, who won best sauce last year in Dartmouth.

“We’ve got a grill that’s smoking hot, we got ribs, chicken, full pork on it, and we love supporting the Rotary Club and anything we can do to help the city wherever we go.”

The stories that come from Ribfest are the best part for Paynter.

“The ribbers will produce about 3,000 racks of ribs every hour individually,” he said. “You got five trucks so you’re doing about 15,000 racks of ribs. They have brought something close to 25 tons of ribs for the weekend.”

And while you can get chicken, ribs, brisket, sausage and pulled pork, there is also a little something different on the grill this year.

“Texas Rangers is bringing gator, you know, so it’s like a lot of people don’t know,” laughed Barrera.

“But yeah, we cook our gator, it’s smoky, no sauce just spices. And then you get two skewers, beans and coleslaw at the dinner.”

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