Last weekend was the Downtown Barrie Ribfest and I had the opportunity to swing by and check it out. The last ribfest I attended was in 2005 in Markham. I wasn’t overly impressed back then, so what would a 4 year hiatus bring?
Some interesting observations are that in 4 years the cost of a full rack of ribs has increased by 10% from $20 to $22. I don’t have the inflation figure for Canada in front of me, but that feels like a reasonable increase over a 4 year period. There was only one repeat ribber at the Barrie event that I tried in Markham (Silver Bullet). I did not try their ribs this year.
3 of us went down and worked it so that each of us would by a full rack of ribs from a different vendor and then share so that we could experience more of the event. We enjoyed ribs from the Gator BBQ Company, Crabby’s BBQ Shack and Uncle Sam’s BBQ. Uncle Sam’s was award the people’s choice award for best sauce, however I found their sauce think and their ribs were stringy and chalk full of fat and cartilage. My preference for ribs — hands down — were from Crabby’s BBQ Shack. The ribs were meaty, juicy, and the the sauce was a bit smoky and laid on thick.
Overall the event seemed to be a success, and given the decent weather it was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
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