Shorty’s Rib Fest

The 2014 event was a blast! PLENTY of ribs, beer, wine, and fun for everyone. The kids area was perfect for allowing our daughter to burn off some energy. Face painting, balloon animals and bouncy houses. Music was great, event staff was great, and there is almost a family feel from all of the other attendees, all with at least one thing in common… ribs! I will be attending this event for many years to come!

Last year was a blast! I hear there will be more than plenty of ribs this year. Can’t wait for this event and the yummy ribs.

Need more ribs!

If I could give this event no stars I would. We arrived around 5:00pm on Saturday thinking we would feast on the different rib vendors. The web site listed 11 vendors. We paid $ 10 each to just get into the fest. The only problem was of the 11 vendors only one had any ribs to offer and their line was about 25 deep. All the other vendors said a limited amount of ribs would be ready in 45 to 60 minutes or they were completely sold out for the evening.
We tried to get our entry fee back but were told no refunds were to be given. An event coordinator explained that the one hour wait was becuase it takes time to make quality ribs. PLEASE. He then escorted us to the head of the line of the one place selling ribs and secured one plate of ribs (5 ribs) that cost us $ 10. We also had 3 pork sliders from another vendor for the $ 5 each. Each slider was about three bites. The «Bud» I had was $ 5. So in total we spent $ 70 for this great culinary delight.
As we left people will sit paying $ 10 without any warning that food was very limited. This event was a complete train wreck.

It was a first-​time festival, and there are definitely some wrinkles to iron out:
* More selections of beer than Bud and Bud Light. Neither of those really qualifies as «beer.»
* The VIP tickets said that they came with two free rib samples from any of the ribbers; in fact, you could only get a free sample from the police/​fire rib booth — and those were the worst ribs at the fest. Maybe the police/​fire should do a donut booth next year?
* I heard that the vendors ran out of ribs by Saturday afternoon; not exactly acceptable for a «rib fest.»
* $ 10 for the Saturday entry is too much, when all that gets you is the ability to spend more money on food and «beer.»
If they have the event again next year, I would go – but I would hope for some of the changes mentioned above.