Crowds showing up for Sault Rotaryfest and Ribfest

Sault Ste. Marie -

Organizers of this year's Rotaryfest and Ribfest say the event is off to a busy start despite a change in venue and a scaling back of the usual activities due to the pandemic.

For example, the live concert is a drive-in event while Ribfest is adopting a drive-thru model.

Despite the move from Clergue Park downtown to the former Lowe's parking lot on Northern Avenue, organizers said both events are going well.

"Everybody is pretty pleased," said Rotaryfest chair Rod Goodall. "We've had nothing but positive input, and many people literally stopping us and saying thanks for putting this together."

Goodall said this year's drive-thru version of Ribfest also seems to have caught on.

"Steady flow, both of our ribbers, professional crews, they put through a tremendous number of cars and they're really happy," he said. "They like to be busy, and we like them to be busy, too."

Two ribbers are taking part in this year's Ribfest, and diners can get their barbeque fix from Silver Bullet BBQ or Billy Bones BBQ.

Carter Niklaus, pit master for Silver Bullet BBQ, said he's pleased with the turnout so far.

"Silver Bullet wasn't able to come to Sault Ste. Marie last year and since we've been here, it's just been nothing but great times and great business," said Niklaus.

At Billy Bones BBQ, pit master Mike Brunton said he's happy to be back in the Sault.

"Sault Ste. Marie's always so kind to us," says Brunton. "We love the way they put it on, they're always so organized. We love the people here."

Both ribbers are engaged in a friendly competition to decide who makes the best ribs, with each providing the tangible and intangible ingredients in their respective recipes.

"Each rack starts off individually hand-rubbed with our signature Texas-style spices," said Niklaus. "Slow smoked in our smoker for four hours using cherry wood and then grilled over an open charcoal flame and carmelized to perfection using our sweet peppercorn-based sauce."

"We put our heart into everything," said Brunton. "That's what it's all about -- it's about peace, love and ribs. We cook them nice and slow with our nice cherry wood. And from start to finish, we just put a tonne of effort into it and it seems to work out well for us."

Rotaryfest organizers are pleased with the crowd that came out for Thursday night's drive-in concert. And they're expecting more of the same for the weekend.