Organizers say the atmosphere was positive, but the numbers were down at the third annual Ribfest hosted by the Wallaceburg Kinsmen.
“From all that we talked to, the people that made it out, they enjoyed themselves, they enjoyed the food, the entertainment,” said Wallaceburg Coun. Sheldon Parsons, who is a member of the Kinsmen. “Everybody had good vibes about the way the weekend went.”
Parsons said the numbers were down a bit compared to last year.
“Crowds were down a bit from last year,” Parsons said. “Whether the weather was effecting it, or whether other events might have interrupted a bit. The crowds were down a bit and it was a different crowd. Maybe the bands brought in different crowds.”
Parsons added: “Overall, certainly we’re happy with it, but I don’t think we made as much money as we have in the past.”
The club will decide in the fall whether or not the event will continue as is, Parsons said.
“The club always does a debrief on it first thing when we get back in September,” he said. “They do that and decide whether this is an annual thing we want to keep going, or whether they want to make some changes and see what else we need to do to bring it up to the point where we’re making the kind of money that we need to make for all of the effort that goes into it.”
Parsons added: “We need to find something during the day to bring the kids in. Whether that is inflatables, a tournament of some sort, we’ll have to take a look. We certainly have the facilities there and we’ll have to take a look at what we can do and hopefully become the attraction that people are looking for.”
Find a better location. We have lots of parks with grass and water. I am not going to eat ribs on a parking lot.
A fair in the back grassy area. Will bring in alot more people.