Canada's Largest Ribfest is the name of an annual
ribfest
A ribfest (short for rib festival), sometimes called a rib cook-off, is a type of food festival that occurs throughout the United States and Canada.
Ribfests typically attract large crowds
Background
The size of each ribfest is often measured by ...
food festival
A food festival is a festival, that features food, often produce, as its central theme. These festivals have been a means of uniting communities through celebrations of harvests and giving thanks for a plentiful growing season.
History
Food fe ...
held in
Spencer Smith Park
Spencer Smith Park is a park in downtown Burlington, Ontario
Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is a city and List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipality in Regional Municipality of Halt ...
by the lake shore in
Burlington, Ontario
Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is a city and List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipality in Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region at the west end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Can ...
. The Burlington Lakeshore
Rotary Club
Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...
organizes the four-day-long Ribfest to raise money for
charity
Charity may refer to:
Common meanings
* Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons
* Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...
during the
Labour Day
Labour Day is an annual day of celebration of the labour movement and its labor rights, achievements. It has its origins in the trade union, labour union movement, specifically the Eight-hour day movement, eight-hour day movement, which advoca ...
weekend.
History
The Burlington Lakeshore
Rotary Club
Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...
held the first Ribfest in 1996, then simply called the Ribfest.
By 2001, the festival had expanded to include ribs from 12 traveling rib teams.
The 2004 festival anticipated about 150,000 people eating 36 tonnes of ribs. It was called the
Maple Leaf Pork Rotary Ribfest that year.
In early 2009, the Burlington Ribfest rebranded itself as "Canada's Largest Ribfest"—with its logo redesigned by Little Green Tree. In September, 175,000 people and 18 rib teams attended the 14th annual Canada's Largest Ribfest, consuming 150,000
lbs of ribs over the weekend.
Canadian stimulus package funding gigantic ribfest?!
'. Weightymatters.ca May 18, 2010[Fricker, Peter.]
" ''Vancouver Sun''. May 25, 2010 An estimated $320,000 was raised for local charities.
In 2010, the Canadian Federal government provided
Can$
The Canadian dollar (currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, code: CAD; ) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $. There is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviations Can$, CA$ and C$ are frequently used f ...
98,610 in funding for the Ribfest as part of a
Can$
The Canadian dollar (currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, code: CAD; ) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $. There is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviations Can$, CA$ and C$ are frequently used f ...
100 million Marquee Tourism Events Program fund.
[
2020, 2021 and 2022 saw drive-thru Ribfests due to the ]COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
restrictions.
Economic impact
In 2003, an economic study was conducted on "Canada's Largest Ribfest." It found that almost 50% of visitors to the Ribfest come from outside Burlington. About 100% of those who came to the Ribfest would recommend it to out-of-town friends and/or relatives. About 69% said they would attend in 2007. About $1.8 million is being spent in the region by consumers.
2009 Sponsorship & Advertising Program
.'' CanadasLargestRibfest.com.
Charitable fundraising
The Ribfest's funds are split to local organizations, business, and hospitals.
This is some of them:
*Scouts Canada
Scouts Canada is a Canadian Scouting association that provides programs for young people ages 5 to 26. It aims "to help develop well-rounded youth, better prepared for success in the world." Scouts Canada, in affiliation with the French-language ...
*Rotary Youth Leadership Awards
*Scholarships and Bursaries
*Burlington Teen Tour Band
*Burlington Art Centre
The Art Gallery of Burlington, founded in 1978, is the seventh largest public art gallery in Ontario. The gallery collects and maintains Canada's largest collection of contemporary Canadian ceramics. It is located on the City of Burlington water ...
*Salvation Army
The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...
*The Carpenter Hospice
*Rotary Music festival
*Burlington International Games
*Partnership West Food Bank
*Joseph Brant Hospital
Joseph Brant Hospital is a hospital in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospital was the first in Canada to erect a pandemic response unit. Designed by Adamson Associates Architects in joint venture with Parkin Arc ...
*Children's Assessment & Treatment Centre
*Habitat for Humanity
See also
* Burlington Sound of Music
The Sound of Music Festival is an annual music festival in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. It is held in mid-June and usually falls on the Father's Day
Father's Day is a day set aside for honoring one's father, as well as fatherhood, paternal ...
References
External links
Canada's Largest Ribfest
{{coord, 43.3218, N, 79.7982, W, display=title
Festivals in Ontario
Burlington, Ontario
Food and drink festivals in Canada
Tourist attractions in the Regional Municipality of Halton