This year’s 13th annual Amacon Mississauga Rotary RibFest is right around the corner! The appetizing and popular event will take place July 14-17 (this week) at Celebration Square. To give you a taste of why you should check out this mouth-watering event, here are some fun facts and tips regarding RibFest.

1. GET FREE ADMISSION (Thursday & Sunday only)

Admission to RibFest on Friday and Saturday is $5 per family or $2 per person, but did you know that you can actually go for free on Thursday and Sunday? Feel free to use the savings to make a donation in support of some great causes (and to enjoy more ribs).

2. BRING CASH

The ribbers and vendors only accept cash. There are ATMs on-site, but try to plan for a bank trip in advance if you want to avoid potential lines.

3. DO SOME RIB RECONNAISSANCE

Not all ribs are the same, so do some research beforehand to see which vendors serve the styles you might be interested in – for example, some of the rib teams have multiple styles of pork, beef, or both, and all rib trucks offer coleslaw, chicken, and baked beans. Get to know all of the mouth watering ribbers that will be cooking up some of the most delicious and mouth-watering ribs at this year’s RibFest:

• Sticky fingers BBQ and company
• Camp 31
• Texas Rangers
• Uncle Sam’s BBQ Stand
• Bibb’s Texas BBQ
• Hawgs Gone Wild BBQ Team
• Gator BBQ
• Billy Bones BBQ
• Bone Daddy’s Real Pit BBQ
• Crabby’s BBQ Shack
• Silver Bullet Bar-B-Q
• Blazin BBQ
• Pistol Pete’s Smokehouse

4. GO TO RIB-FINITY AND BEYOND

Other than the delicious rib truck vendors there will also be a multitude of alternate food vendors. There are a wide variety of foods to choose from within these vendors, including shawarmas, crepes, ice cream, french fries, Halal alternatives and much more! Here’s a list of the food vendors that will be present for the duration of RibFest:

• Shawarma Express
• Goodie Food
• Freshly Squeezed
• Dimkin Crepes
• Rotary Club Miss/Dixie
• Spanish Desserts
• B&D Fries
• Jusdan Foods
• Harrison Ice Cream
• Blooming Onions
• Pappy’s Soda
• Ontario Corn Roaster
• Festival Food

Another great aspect of this upcoming RibFest is that there will also be many non-food vendors at the event. These vendors will include:

• Air Riderz Trampoline Park
• Miway, Miluz Art
• Bathfitter
• Renewal by Anderson
• Inmycloset
• Direct Buy
• Foxcore
• Vitality Assurance Vacations - Cranberry Resort
• CST Consultants Inc
• Clarity Wellness
• One Up International
• Red Rhino Entertainment
• HollisWealth

5. ENJOY RIB-TASTIC ENTERTAINMENT

While indulging at any of the food vendors at RibFest, live entertainment will also be in full swing as the day progresses. Entertainment at the Amacon RibFest will include various artists, performers and DJs.

Thursday, July 14:

• Infrared
• Khaled Iwamura
• Live with Khaled and Jackie
• Marc Joseph Band

Friday, July 15: 

• Rolling Stronz
• Alessia Cohle
• Marc Joseph Band
• Groove Marmalade

Saturday, July 16:

• Evolve Camps (Skateboard Demo)
• Elyse Saunders-Band
• Stacy Renee
• Streetfire Band
• DJ D Smooth
• BlackBoard Blues Band

Sunday, July 17: 

• Rockin’ Blues, Timetrip (Top 40 Rock)
• Blueroom Blues
• Irene Torres & the Sugar Devils

RibFest will also have various DJ’s spinning throughout the weekend, including: DJ Floz, DJ Holdershaw, DJ DVS, and DJ D Smooth.

6. EAT LIKE A VIP

 An option to consider is buying VIP RibFest tickets. There are two kinds of VIP tickets available for purchase.
The first is the $20 VIP pass, which includes the Fast Rib Pass (line bypass with preferred seating, good for all 4 days), access to the White Oak VIP area, VIP washrooms, and a complimentary and reusable beer mug.
The second VIP ticket option is the $35 VIP pass. This ticket includes the same benefits as the $20 pass, plus two sides and ½ rack of ribs. If you’re interested, the tickets are available for purchase at http://mississaugaRibFesttickets.ca/. These tickets would be a great bonus to have while RibFest takes place, as lineups can easily become very long and crowded.

This year’s RibFest is a great opportunity to come out and indulge in some of the most delicious ribs and foods to satisfy all of your cravings. It’s safe to say this mouth-watering event is something you won’t want to miss out on!