By Pepper Parr
September 3, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Buddy Gerl, chief ribber at Camp 31, said that Ribfests are driven by weather – that being true Saturday turned out to be an iffy day . When it is too cold – people don’t come out. If it is too hot – they don’t come out.
But when the weather is just right – they come out in droves.
Chowing down and listening to the music – with the sun shining. The cranes in the background speak of a changing skyline
With little luck Gerl and his Camp 31 operation will have a good season and the Rotarians will rack up another solid fund raising event.
The crowds were soft when we toured the site in the middle of Friday afternoon – but they got better. Saturday was a disappointment – the rest of the weekend looks as if the weather Gods are with the Rotarians again.
VIP tent is open to the public for parts of Sunday and Monday.
There are a number of pluses this year. There is a VIP tent that is available to the public on parts of the weekend – Sunday and Monday for the most part.
Fetching the beer.
The beer prices are reasonable and you can use both cash and plastic and there is an ATM on site where you can draw some cash.
The usual set of Ribbers are on site – the lineups seem to dictate where the prize sauces are located.
The Rotarians took a different approach to their fund raising this year when they partnered with the Carpenter Hospice – that organization is getting close to finalizing their plans to a significant addition to the facilities.
Teen Tour Band – collecting for Carpenter Hospice
Members of the Burlington Teen Tour Band were on hand at some of the entry point with collection tins.
We noticed a bit of a tightening in security at the entry points to Spencer Smith Park. A security guard asked to look inside the bag I was carrying – it was a pretty cursory look. It is a changing world.
South side of Spencer Smith with all the ribbers open for business.
North side of Spencer Smith Park – crowds were sparse – but it was decent for a Friday mid-day.
The Ribfest first came to Burlington in 1996 – since that time the Lakeshore Rotarians have raised more than $3 million which they have given back to the community in the form of scholarships and awards.
For the past two years those academic scholarships have amount to $3500 for each person given a scholarship.
