Brantford Kinsmen hosted its 16th annual Ribfest at Mohawk Park from Friday, August 7 through to Sunday, August 9, 2026.
The Kinsmen, who have been active in the Brantford-Brant area since 1941, had a host of activities taking place, including Kids Zone with inflatable attractions and a rock-climbing wall, a vendor marketplace, a beer and cooler garden, and a line up of live entertainment.
Route 6, Jack Sith, the Nerds, the Poster Boys, BarCode, Stone the Radio, the Tyler Wilson Band and Billboard Nation all took turns entertaining the crowds throughout the run of the event.
Of course, a Ribfest wouldn’t be complete without a line up of pro-ribbers. Gator BBQ, Crazy Canuck Smokerhouse, Jack the Ribber, Oak and Barrel and Texas Jack’s BBQ spent the weekend keeping hungry visitors well fed.
From saucy ribs to brisket, pulled pork and chicken, sausages, mac and cheese, creamy coleslaw, cornbread and more, there were plenty of barbecue classics to indulge in.
Aside from feeding hundreds of visitors, the ribbers were also competing for various awards, the winners of which were announced on Sunday after judges, including Mike Noack (a well-known foodie who’s involved with social media groups like Wings in the Hammer and Burgers in the Hammer), spent the afternoon taste-testing what was on offer.
“We actually have six awards because we’ve added a new one this year,’ said Jeff Harding, Ribfest’s entertainment coordinator. “Our ribbers have been competing for the title of best ribs, best chicken, best pig rig, people’s choice award, which is voted on by everybody that comes, and then we added an award for best presentation this year. We saw the ribs come up on more of a platter setup for some of them, or in takeout boxes with some nice food-inspired accents for others. So that was cool.”
In a record-setting Brantford Kinsmen Ribfest debut, Texas Jack’s BBQ took home four of the five trophies awarded by the judges including, best ribs, best chicken, best sauce and best pig rig.
Crazy Canuck Smokerhouse walked away with the trophy for the event’s inaugural best presentation award, while Gator BBQ took home the honour of people’s choice award.
“Let’s have a huge round of applause for all of our ribbers, ladies and gentlemen,” said Harding. “As hot as everyone has been in the lines, they’re a heck of a lot hotter than we are standing behind open flames all weekend long.”
After the awards, Brantford resident Samantha Sanche had nothing but good things to say about her choice of ribber, but that she sent her crew back in line to try Texas Jack’s.
“We got Oak & Barrel first and they were delicious,” she said. “They’re chicken was really good too but I can’t wait to try the Texas one.”
Sanche added it was great to see everyone supporting the event.
“It’s been great. There’s a lot of vendors selling some different things and it smells absolutely amazing. If you’re not hungry when you get here, you’re going to be,” she said, with a laugh. “But it’s really nice to see everybody coming out and supporting the event. It’s great to bump into some old friends and enjoy some good food and good music.”
Besides ribs and smoked meat, other food vendors were also on-site serving other fan-favourite festival foods like french fries and poutine, bloomin’ onions, burgers and sausages, fish and chips, spring rolls, roasted sweet corn and yams, and funnel cake.
As well, there were several vendors serving up ice cold drinks to cool everyone down like Icees, freshly squeezed lemonade, and handcrafted mocktail-inspired beverages.
Harding said he was happy with the way the weekend played out, noting that things felt like they were looking up for the event for the first time since before the pandemic.
“It’s been great. We hit capacity for food and beverage vendors, and we sold out of spots for our marketplace this year too,” he said. “I think it’s the first time since 2019 where we’ve sold out for both so that’s awesome. Between sponsorship, support for the festival and attendance, it feels like things are finally coming back to the way they were before the pandemic.”
Harding added that despite some rain on Saturday evening, the event had a great turnout.
“Friday night was up from last year, and while we had to adjust a bit on Saturday, it was still great,” he said. “People started to come back around 6 p.m., but man, we love those diehards. There were still people walking in with their raincoats, galoshes and umbrellas to get ribs in the rain so we love Brantford for that.”
The entertainment coordinator thanked everyone who attended the event and for supporting Brantford Ribfest for year after year.
“Thank you to all of our sponsors and to the people of Brantford for fantastic support over the last 16 years,” Harding said. “It’s really great to see people that I grew up with now bringing their kids to the event, and to work with fantastic people that have a positive attitude and community spirit. And thank you to the City of Brantford; this is the second year in Mohawk Park and we’re still working out the kinks, but it’s great to be here.”
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.
