This was my what, 6th or 7th consecutive year going to the Ribfest? BEST EVER. 1) This year it wasn't crowded because all you people were in Boston watching the Bruins roll by in the parade! Yay! Standing on a street watching people paid millions to do their job? Fun for some, I guess! 2) Free beer! It's free when you find BEER tickets on the ground!!! YAY ME!!! 3) The stunt plane! It showed up! It wasn't on the schedule but BOOM he was there! AWESOME! 4) The crappy band at least played songs I recognized and liked. So that's a plus. - But really this year it was the best. A bunch of the ribs SUCKED but several were EXCELLENT. It pays to pick and choose. It's also fun to eat and eat until you find the BEST of the show! And: DEEP FRIED OREOS!!! YAY!!! BEST YEAR EVER!!! read more

2019 This was awful. 10$ to park. Granted it goes to charity but on top of the rest of this review it's more part of what hurts than the good cause. Then, 10$ to get in, each. What's new this year? Nothing I assume. Four years ago it was the same four BBQ peddlers. Now there's three fish and chips trucks and fried dough. So much for the food truck side of this years renewal. Fine. Whatever. Might as well get BBQ. Now, for only 23$ you can get two good ribs, a scoop of terrible pulled pork and a scoop of terrible bbq chicken. What else you ask? Not a drink, not cornbread. But fear not, they pick your sides because there's only two. Baked beans and cole slaw that was an embarrassment. Lettuce and mayo. Seriously? 53$ in and the wife pays another 11$ for the lousy chicken on a bun. But the atmosphere, right? It's more than the sum of its pieces, isn't it? No. A barley mediocre band, 3$ sodas, 8$ beers. WOW! And nothing but Bud, the worst beer with the best advertising budget. And don't worry, the parasites all over the place trying to sell you propane heating, bank accounts and no clean gutters will drive you out almost as fast as the brainless parents who refuse to mind theirs little terrors because the finally get a break. This might be a change of pace, or an easy excuse to tire out your kids, but it's also a slap in the face. tldr; Fk Ribfest. Go literally anywhere else. read more

This is one of the events on agenda every summer. This year was pretty much the same as previous years which is a good thing. A bunch of BBQ teams serving up a whole array of different selections. One of them had very good smoked ribs with a dry rub, another one had decent meat with a orange citrusy BBQ flavor, another had an amazing thai chilli infused BBQ sauce that I'm in love with and so on. They also have typical fair/carnival food available as well. I stay away from most of it as I'd rather fill up on BBQ, but I can not resist the deep fried oreos. I'm sure they shorten my life span with bite by a significant amount, but they are so so good. Plus, I eat them once a year so I figure its ok. The only downside to the event is the terrible beer selection. Since the event is hosted on grounds of the Bud brewery only their beer is available. Its pretty cheap at $4 a glass, but I really wish I could enjoy some good beer with all the amazing food. read more

Friday night's shows and food were excellent. The 1964 Tribute Band was great - as always, and we really enjoyed the teen band shows. Lots - o - talent. Only sampled the FireBox's ribs and pulled pork: ribs were perfect. Smoked to perfection. Pulled pork was good, Cole slaw was great but the mac salad had a strange flavor of thyme. All in all a great night once again. read more

Had a great time here last year. Good food, good music, etc. However I highly suggest NOT entering to win anything from the booths set up. My boyfriend and I have been getting calls (on each of our phones I might add) for over a year now claiming we won various prizes. All seemed like a phishing scam. The event coordinators should really be more selective with who they're allowing to set up booths at the event, not just who will pay for the spot. read more

Wait what? 30 dollars a ticket and you only have a choice of two seatings ! Save your money, go to the market and buy 4 racks of ribs and a case of your favorite beer and soda and make 5 lbs. of potato salad! Do not believe that this money goes to any charity, either. It goes to whomever is charging the grounds fee and the promoter. Enjoy your family at home on Fathers Day weekend! read more

you pay to park - you pay to get in - and you pay for anything. we have gone 3 times - every time on the way out - the cost is very expensive, Ribs you receive are cooked with far from quality, 40 minute lines, over priced ribs , good music, if your going for food yikes read more

We were very let down with the ribfest to be honest & had been overly looking forward to it for awhile. Dropped much more money than we expected. $20 a plate for barbeque?? Really? BBQ is one of the cheapest things to make. We really felt like we were getting ripped off for the price we paid for a tiny bit of food that was proclaimed to be "The best Ever! Food Network Champions! WInner Winner Winner!" Lines were outrageous for the BBQ and you didnt even have the ability to sample the food before deciding on what you HAD to order. There was no place to get soda, the one vendor who had big Pepsi logos on their sign turned everyone away saying they didn't have it. We walked around searching wildly for something to drink and could only find small cups of Fresh Squeezed Lemonade for $3.00 a dixie cup or bottled water for $2.00. Beer was the only drink readily available and that was $5.00 a glass! Tickets to go on the cheaply put together "bounce houses" were $0.50 each and many of the bounce houses were up to 4 tickets each. Wrist bands were $10.00 to go on all of them and after only having our wrist band for about 20 minutes, there was some kind of problem and all of the bounce houses deflated on us. The Event Staff running the attractions were all young, uninterested teenagers who were more interested in their phones and throwing things back and forth to each other to pay attention to the children on the bounce houses or the lines in which people were trying to form to get on them. Between parking $5.00, entrance tickets $14.00, beer tickets $10.00, wrists bands $10.00, overpriced lemonade $3.00, and waaay overpriced BBQ $20.00 that wasnt better than maybe 6/10, we spent way more than we should have had to and walked out very disappointed. On a positive note, the stunt pilot was great! The musical acts were decent. The petting zoo was very fun for the kids. And the Red Cross Medical staff were wonderful. read more