Rotary Ribfest YYC
This weekend Sept 6-8, 2019 in Calgary at the Stampede grounds, it’s the Rotary Ribfest YYC 2019! The location is Stampede Park at Lot #20 14th Ave S.E and Olympic Way. There are 5 different rib trucks to eat your way through!
The event is sponsored by the Rotary Club. They are raising money to help combat mental health and wellness. A great cause, and a great event to be part of here in Calgary.
There are the 5 food trucks, (well actually food tractor trailers!) that are from Oklahoma, Ontario, Michigan, Ohio and Texas who showed up for some friendly competition, amazing food and entertainment.
When we arrived each of the trucks provided us with a sample of their signature BBQ sauce. It’s amazing to taste the subtle differences in each of the sauces. They were all tomato based but each had its own flavor profile.
Just look at the BBQ Sauce on those ribs! You know it’s going to get a little messy!
We were fortunate enough to get a third of a rack of pork ribs from each of the 5 vendors. We sat down, lined them up and tasted each one in turn. A good napkin supply is an absolute must I might add!
Because you can’t eat ribs with a fork, you really need to get right in there with your fingers and your face!
Wild and Crazy Fun!
You can just tell that everyone was there to have a good time! Each of the trailer units were sure that their smoked flavors were number 1, and they weren’t shy about telling everybody that!
The ribs were all smoked on the mobile smokers that made up part of the trailer. I checked in with a couple of the units and they told me they used cherry wood to smoke their ribs.
Here are some ribs just going in for that low, slow smoke!
We lined all the takeout boxes of ribs up, (thank you for that easy to take home mode) and started tasting each them one after another. It was a really great experience.
Each one was different, and in some cases markedly so. We made notes to compare, using words like saucy, sweet, meaty, fall off the bone, pull off the bone, sticky and smoky.
But Wait… There’s More!
Saucy smoked quarter chickens on grill for the finish before being served! For us there was no room for anything else but ribs, but it is nice that you have other things to choose from too!
And More Still…
Smoked Pork Sausage! After all there would be no point in firing up the smokers and only smoke ribs, right? They had way more going on than just pork ribs.
The beef ribs were HUGE, and of course no BBQ would be complete without whole smoked chickens, smoked turkey legs and great smoked pork sausage. Oh, and if you prefer, try a pulled pork sandwich!
There were lots of happy construction men running from booth to booth deciding on what to have for lunch, I saw a number of pulled pork sandwiches being their delicious selection.
Plus there were sides; these just round out the whole BBQ experience. They fill your plate and without them no BBQ would be complete.
Great sides like coleslaw, mac & cheese and of course one of my daughter’s all-time favorites, cornbread!
Mmmmmm…Cornbread!
We ranked the ribs from 1-5 as we went through tasting them. Joining us were about 8 other media friends, and everyone had their own opinion of which ribs they liked best.
Up for discussion were the different sauces and the different textures of the ribs. In the end we did sort of agree on the top one or two for sure!
In our opinion; the best ribs we tasted today were the Texas Rangers pork ribs followed by Buckeye BBQ, Blazin BBQ, Billy Bones and then Pistol’s Petes.
But you can’t just take our word for it! You need to get down there to the Rotary Ribfest YYC and try them all for yourself. That’s the only way for you to decide which one of the fabulous ribs you rank as #1!
Libations!
Village Brewery is there so you won’t go thirsty. Plus, there are a few other surprises like a homemade lemonade stand, Calgary Little Donuts and more!
Admission is free but the Rotary Club volunteers are asking for donations from everyone. Enjoy some outstanding smoked BBQ and donate some money towards helping to combat mental health!
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