Brantford Kinsmen hosted its 15th annual Ribfest at Mohawk Park from Friday, August 8 through to Sunday, August 10, 2025.
The Kinsmen, who have been present in the Brantford-Brant area since 1941, had a host of activities going on including the kids zone with its inflatable attractions, axe-throwing with Brantford’s Smash N’ Axes Emporium, the vendor marketplace, a beer and cooler garden, and a line up of live entertainment.
Stone the Radio, Jack Sith, the Nerds, BarCode, the Killin’ Time Band, the Schmoe Bros and Billboard Nation: the Cover Band, all took turns entertaining the crowds throughout the weekend, giving visitors a chance to get up and move along to the music.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Ribfest without this year’s five pro-ribbers. Brickyard BBQ, Crazy Canuck Smokers, Razorback BBQ, Gator BBQ and Jack the Ribber were all on site serving up some tasty food to hungry visitors.
From ribs to brisket, pulled pork and chicken, mac and cheese, creamy coleslaw, cornbread and more, there were plenty of summer BBQ classics to indulge in.
While feeding all of the hundreds of visitors, the ribbers were also competing for various awards and on Sunday afternoon, Jeff Harding, the event’s entertainment coordinator, announced the weekend winners.
Gator BBQ took home the award for the 2025 best pig rig, their bright orange and blue rig having stood out the most.
For best chicken, Razorback BBQ took home third place, Crazy Canuck Smokehouse took home second place, and the 2025 best chicken first place award went to Brickyard BBQ.
When it came to best sauce, Jack the Ribber, the newest addition to this year’s Ribfest, took home third, Razorback BBQ took second place and the 2025 best sauce went to Crazy Canuck Smokehouse.
And finally, for best ribs, third place went to Gator BBQ, Jack the Ribber took home second and the 2025 best ribs went to the hometown ribbers, Crazy Canuck Smokehouse.
“A big round of applause for all five pro-ribbers, it’s been hot as heck and they’ve been out here all weekend long, so we appreciate them,” said Harding.
Other food vendors were also on-site serving other fan-favourite festival foods like french fries and poutine, tornado potatoes, bloomin’ onions, burgers and sausages, roasted sweet corn and yams, funnel cake, and ice cream.
As well, there were several vendors serving up ice cold drinks to cool everyone down like Icees and freshly squeezed lemonade, however the Vuong Nguyen from the Lemon Bar left many people impressed with his handcrafted mocktail-inspired beverages.
Sarah Alpi, James Overton, and Laura Alpi, said that this was their first time attending the Brantford Kinsmen Ribfest and that they were overall happy with the experience.
“I found that I really liked the set up here,” said Overton. “I’ve been to the one in Barrie and I found that this one was nice and organized compared to Barrie’s. As far as ribs goes though, I think I liked the meat from Jack the Ribber the best, but I really liked the sauce from Crazy Canucks.”
“I also liked the variety here too,” added Laura. “I live in Aurora and I went to theirs last year and they only had three ribbers, so I like that there actually were five here.”
Overall, Harding said that he and the rest of the organizers were pleased with this year’s turnout.
“It’s been pretty steady, which is nice. We’re at a new location this year which is always a bit of a challenge, but it’s been good overall. The feedback we’ve gotten on the new location has been positive because there’s shade and the splash pad has been open all weekend down there too so if people needed to cool down they could,” he said. “From the entertainment side of things, everybody’s been fantastic and we’ve received so many compliments about the entertainment this year so that’s always great.”
He added that while the event always takes a lot of planning, it’s well worth it in the end.
“It’s a lot of work but once we get here and everything’s set up, and the people start rolling in, we’re always laughing and having a good time. It may be hot but we’re contributing to the community and that’s what’s important to us,” said Harding. “We have a small team of volunteers but our team’s been great this year, and we haven’t had any issues. So personally, I’m happy that everything’s run fairly smoothly.”
While Ribfest may be all about good food and good entertainment, a big part of the event is all about being able to give back to the community.
The Kinsmen Club of Brantford is a local non-profit service organization and over the weekend, members were collecting donations that will be used to help serve the city’s greatest needs including youth charities such as the Boy and Girls Club, locals sport teams, Nova Vita and other various organizations focused on health, hunger and humanity. Across the country, the Kinsmen Clubs are best known for their contributions to Cystic Fibrosis research.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
