The 16th annual Brantford Kinsmen Ribfest will be taking place at Mohawk Park from Friday, August 7, to Sunday, August 9, 2026.
Jeff Harding, entertainment coordinator for the Brantford Kinsmen Ribfest, said that visitors can expect to experience an entire weekend’s worth of good food, great music, and a whole lot of family fun.
For those who are looking to indulge, this year’s event will feature five pro-ribbers, and of course, a variety of classic festival treats including bloomin’ onions, burgers, fries, roasted corn on the cob, funnel cake and more from eight other vendors.
“Returning this year are our hometown favorites, Crazy Canuck Smokerhouse; Gator BBQ, who I believe have been with us from the start; and Jack the Ribber, who joined our festival family last year,” said Harding. “People always ask us about switching up our ribbers, so we’ve done that this year and our two new ribbers for 2026 are Oak and Barrel and Boss Hog BBQ.”
As always, the ribbers will be competing for the title of best ribs, best chicken, best sauce, best pig-rig and people’s choice award.
New to this year’s event is live judging, which will take place around 1 p.m. on Sunday.
“The judging usually happens behind the scenes, but we’re going to bring it up to the main stage for this year and interact with the judges a bit,” said Harding. “We have a bit of a ‘celebrity judge’ too. His name is Mike Noack and he’s a well-known foodie who’s involved with social media groups like Wings in the Hammer and Burgers in the Hammer. He’s got all sorts of opinions on barbecue so I thought it would be interesting and fun to bring him out on stage.”
Those in attendance will also be able to enjoy the kids zone featuring Air Bounce Inflatables, the vendor marketplace, as well as the beer and cooler garden.
The grounds will officially open on Friday at 4 p.m., and the event will kick off with the opening ceremonies at 5 p.m.
As far as the evening’s entertainment, Route 6 will go on at 6 p.m., and headliner, Jack Sith, will end out the night starting at 8:30 p.m.
The fun continues into Saturday when the gates to the grounds open at 11 a.m.. The day’s entertainment begins at 1 p.m. and will feature performances from the Nerds, the Poster Boys, Barcode and Stone the Radio.
Gates will open once again at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Just Dance will be there at 1 p.m. for line dancing demos and lessons in between judging commentary. The Tyler Wilson Band will kick off the entertainment at 2:30 p.m., followed by the rib awards at 4:30 p.m., and the headliner, Billboard Nation, will close out the annual Ribfest with their performance at 5 p.m.
Harding said he’s thankful for all the support they’ve had throughout the years including their volunteers and sponsors.
“TD Bank, Sun Belt Rentals, Sassy Britches Brewing Co., Lancaster Construction and Rent-a-Bin, and Halco Portables are our title sponsors this year, which we’re very grateful for. But there’s also others like McClelland Glass, BScene, and Air Bound Inflatables who have all stepped in as entertainment sponsors as well,” he said. “With that being said, we’re still welcoming other sponsors as well as volunteers. Many hands make light work so if anyone is interested in getting involved, either as a sponsor or volunteer, they can check out www.brantfordribfest.com.”
Overall, Harding said he and the rest of the Brantford Kinsmen are looking forward to welcoming everyone back to the big event.
“This event is a pillar of my summertime; I always save up my barbecue craving for this one weekend. It’s just a great chance to see everybody, the people I know and the people I haven’t met yet,” he said. “It’s always nice to work with the people involved because this is the one weekend we all see each other because we’re busy doing events at different locations. There’s a lot of people behind this event. Many of us have been doing this for 16 years, myself for 11, and it’s something we all look forward to.”
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.
