The annual Rotary Ribfest in Pickering is always fun to attend, especially since it's close enough…read moreto home to walk to. There's always good food, beverages, entertainment, and so much more for all ages. I always have a good time, even if just taking pictures, but I do enjoy the food. The vendors are always friendly and welcoming, especially the ribbers. I enjoyed a brisket sandwich from Chef Rayon Campbell of Coal Pot Jerk, while my friends had an assortment of BBQ meats and treats from other vendors. We also had a Blooming Onion from Billy Bobs Blooming Onion. It was all good!

The usual rib trucks set up their shops on a great size and layout location in Pickering. If you…read morewant to enjoy the smell of Summer with all the smokiness from the BBQ, you won't be disappointed with the experience. There are some other food vendors if the kids are looking for something more interested for them too much. Great to drop by if you are in the neighborhood and all ages friendly. It is definitely not as crowded as the ones that held in Toronto so enjoy

This was such a fun, spontaneous evening! It had a cool Oriental night market vibe with tons of…read morefood stalls, bouncy houses, and two live DJs. The food was tasty but definitely pricey, especially after the entrance fee (which wasn't cheap). Highlight was launching lanterns into the water such a sweet little moment with my kid. It felt like a cool blend of culture-meets-festival energy. Would totally go again, just maybe pre-game with snacks first .

The website: I wasn't impressed with this waterfront night…read moremarket. I had such high hopes though. Their marketing & pictures of past events looked so good. Hubby & I bought tickets for this year's event. Firstly, their website doesn't have any FAQs. Other than a link to buy tickets & what the cost of the ticket gets you there's not much more information. First Impressions: We arrived just after 4pm & lined up. We got through pretty quickly because there wasn't much of a lineup. The device they were using to scan tickets wouldn't scan ours so they took a picture instead. We had VIP tickets so we got the "nicer" red lantern with tealight candle (the kind with a battery & a switch to turn on). They did a bag check & saw one of us had a bottle of water with us (unopened). They made us throw it into the garbage before going in. That wasn't nice. I later saw people with their reusable water bottles walking around with it. Why were those allowed and not ours? Not nice. As we went inside some booths weren't even set up. Though a good amount were already making their food items for waiting customers. One booth near the entrance was grilling skewers & the smoke went everywhere. The food: After wandering around I decided to get the ube burger & fries from the Bunso booth. The burger was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. The beef patties inside were quite thin. It didn't look appetizing compared to the picture. But it tasted a lot better than it looked. LOL. One thing I will criticize about the burger I wish they hadn't put so much black pepper into the patty. It was a bit spicy for me. It would have been nice if they had seasoned it more gently. The fries were decent. My only complaint is that they weren't hot. But given the circumstances where they were cooked (outdoors on a windy day) I can understand that. The Chatime food truck was nearby so I bought a purple aura bubble tea drink from them. It was too sweet for me. I only drank about half of it before abandoning it. Later on I got the egg shaped waffles in a small carton & the combo comes with lemonade in a flask. This was from Eggette Lab. The flask is a round ring & the strap is pink. Hubby drank the weak lemonade in it. It was funny to see him wearing the flask with pink ribbon & cartoon cats on it. Hubby got chicken skewers from Bunso (no picture) & a Vietnamese coffee style drink (didn't catch name of food vendor). The good: -The red lanterns hanging above the dance floor were nice. -The water feature where the lanterns go was nice. But the water didn't look too clean. -There was a plastic gold dragon by the water which looks nice in pictures & there's a small red bridge beside the water feature for selfie shots. -There was also some plastic Fu dogs where the dragon dancers have a tent. -The fake cherry blossoms looked nice too. -People were friendly & food vendors were friendly. -There were picnic tables set up near the back of the area away from the dance floor. It was quieter there. -The live dj was good. The bad: -A lot of the same food vendors here have also been at Mel Lastman Square events which is free to get into - I didn't feel like I was getting anything special or VIP. I was hoping to see more food vendors I hadn't seen before. -The only washrooms were portapotties which were disgusting & dirty. You can use the washrooms at enercare center but you have to leave the market & might not be allowed back in. -The VIP ticket came with a free alcoholic drink. That booth wasn't even set up yet when we arrived. Hubby was able to get a soju bomb later. -There are no recycle bins or green bins. Everything goes into the garbage. That's a lot of waste. When we got home we opened up the lanterns to look at them. They are cheap plastic lanterns. We recycled them at home. The electronic tea lights are ones you can get at the dollar store. It was nice to experience a different night market but I don't think I'll come back to this one. There are tons of free-entry night markets around the city that I can go to.

How has it taken this long for a festival of Pizza to come into existence in the GTA? I mean…read moreVaughan/Woodbridge/Maple, the Italian strongholds of Southern Ontario - and nothing? Until NOW! And man do the organizers of Vaughan Pizza festival do it right! Over 21 different pizza restaurants all selling their wares at extremely reasonable prices. I managed to get half a pizza for 6 tickets (1 ticket = $1). How many places are you going to get a full pizza hot outta the over for $12. They had pizza and Italian food representing all of the major Italian communities in Ontario, as well as some special guests from Jersey and beyond. Every pizza maker is either cooking their pizza in portable wood burning pizza ovens or these gas BBQ rotating pizza ovens. No reheated Pizza Pizza here. Speaking of Pizza Pizza... none of the overblown pizza chains were there, only local independents. AMAZING! Plus there was booze and 2 nights of live music. Night one of all throw backs to early 90's dance hits (Stevie B, Lil Suzy, to name a few) and night two had Dj Pauly D from the Jersey Shore - I know I know, stereotyping but whatever it was cool. On day three they had a pizza eating contest with some international heavy eaters on hand. This is a great location as well (right off the 400 and the 407, at the now virtually defunct Interchange Way Plaza - former home to AMC Vaughan), lots of parking, lots of space, amazing Can't wait for next year AND their brand new Burger Fest! Eatcrest Out

I'd heard of the festival for ages, but finally checked it out. It's a bigger event than I'd…read moreexpected, with several blocks set aside for a few stages and vendors and tents galore. It turned out that the band playing the main stage when I came was a Blues band. That's fairly typical of Jazz festivals too - though I personally prefer Jazz and would've hoped to have caught that. There was a great vibe, and wonderful to see so may people coming out enjoying it together and supporting local business. Will be back for sure.

Prior to this summer, I hadn't been to a ribfest since 2018. I'm now on a ribfest tear…read more This past Saturday, after having had a great experience on a bee farm in Mulmur, I drove a bit to Barrie to hit Barrie Ribfest. Three weekends. Three visits to three different ribfests. I'm making up for lost rib time. Barrie Ribfest this year was held in the parking lot of Georgian Mall, where Sears used to be. It was bittersweet seeing the Sears sign up with a maple leaf in its logo. This ribfest was well-organized. As a tourist, I had no problems following the signs that led me over to where I needed to be. The smell of ribs helped me get there, too. One woman welcomed me and handed me a menu. I thanked her and slowly made my way over to the ribbers. There were three ribbers. I seem to be following Sticky Fingers wherever it is. Since I had already had food for this place at Scarborough Ribfest, I wanted to try a different vendor. I had a choice between Billy Bones or Camp 31. I went with the latter. There are two drive-thru lanes for each rib vendor. The lines moved pretty well. A friendly man came over to my car and took my order. I got the full rack dinner that comes with coleslaw and baked beans. I also got a side order of cornbread. There is an donation entry fee of $3, which goes to the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre. I paid with a credit card and included a tip. It was such an easy and smooth transaction. I pulled up to the pickup area and had a sweet woman bring me my food in a strong paper bag. I thanked her and slowly drove away. There was another drive-thru area where you could get corn and Tiny Tom's Donuts. I am fortunate to live in Markham where the latter is headquartered and I indulge year-round on those donuts. I also eat corn weekly, so I passed on both. I parked on the other side of the shuttered Sears store and had an extremely late lunch just shy of 4 pm in my car. There were two folks doing the same on the steps of Sears. Camp 31's ribs were so good. They were meaty, and the sauce on them was tangy and smoky. I had half a rack, because I needed room to enjoy the sides. I ate the entire side of coleslaw. It's creamy coleslaw with a good crunch and decent flavour. It was a winner in my books. The baked beans were fabulous. This places uses more than one type of bean. You could see the chunks of onions. The baked beans are delicious. I must flag a return visit to Camp 31. The cornbread was a small little loaf of golden goodness. It was soft with crunchy edges. So good! This place does everything well. This dinner was huge. I had leftovers the following day and the flavours were even better! I am having such a fun time checking out ribfests this summer. I'm so glad that I found one close to where I was last Saturday. I hope to return next year and discover more good barbeque eats. (325)

Who knew Burlington's Ribfest was the largest in Canada? I had been hearing about it from multiple…read moresources leading up to it and figured if I was going to go to any ribfest in the GTA, it might as well be the largest one! It's held in the same location every year which is the the Burlington Lakefront along the Waterfront Trail. You can't miss the set up. There was an entrance point with big banners announcing Ribfest and its main organizer Rotary International. There was an optional donation for entry here but it wasn't clear what was benefiting from the donations. Once you got through, there was a small midway set up leading towards Brant Street Pier. We walked a bit along the waterfront trail to see the main food area. You can see the behind the scenes from the paved path. The green is where each of the stalls are set up. Each of the purveyors had a huge lattice of banners that advertised all their prizing from locations across Canada and the US. They also had tables in front of their stalls with all the hardware they won. Super impressive! Also at the front were generally staff that were giving out tasters of their BBQ sauce so you could try before you bought. Every place had ribs that came in the 1/3, 1/2, and full rack. They also varied in terms of what other meats (chicken, pulled pork, sausage) and sides (beans, mac and cheese, cornbread) they carried. All of the pricing was pretty similar so you weren't at risk of losing out on value anywhere. The ribs really were exceptional! We got them from two different stalls and both were fall off the bone and so tender. There were slight differences in sauce and I did end up preferring one over the other, but they were both really tasty. We also had a smoked sausage to try something else out that was different. I'd just stick with the ribs personally. All of the staff that we interacted with were exceptionally nice. The whole vibe was that everyone was there having a good time. At one place, there was a sign that said "Tip to make the crew oink". We weren't intentionally trying to see what would happen but the sign was spot on - everyone oinked haha. At another stall, our tip got us an extra end rib which was very kind of them to do. The lines were really good this year as it was a little rainy out and acted as crowd control. I've heard that in other years, you need to come with a big group so everyone can split up and line up at different stalls! We only had to wait 5 minutes or less for each place.

This is an excellent way to spend your Labor Day weekend; great food and lots of entertainment!…read more There are dozens of rib vendors from all over the US and Canada. Prices are reasonable, with tall boy cans of beer for $8. This year a full rack of ribs will cost you $25 and half rack for $15. I always stick to the ribs as they are always cooking them on the grill so they are nice and hot. The chicken breast is good too, but usually not as freshly cooked. They have two performance stages at either end of the park with bands playing all the time. There are lots of white high back chairs for sitting which makes for a comfortable time. If you can find a spot, you can park at a couple of the lots at the park, and parking is free at them after 6:00pm.

A great free festival in beautiful Main Street Unionville! A portion of the street is closed off to…read moretraffic, so the festival is pedestrian friendly. It's lovely to stroll down the street and stop along at the various music performances along the way. The locations are spaced out nicely so the sound doesn't overlap and you have the opportunity to walk around. Businesses have their doors open to browse and there are plenty of restaurants and dessert locations open to satisfy your tastebuds. Enjoy the ambiance of Main Street! You can also hop on the trail or visit the park for a nice dose of nature with your jazz.

Had a fun filled time here at Pingles Farm market…read more Very kid friendly. They had a little barn, with some farm animals, a jumping area for kids, huge tube slides, corn maze and food stations. They do have portable washrooms. Food and drinks can get very pricey, but you can bring your own snacks/food. The market is spacious and sells everything from sweet treats, popcorn, plushies and everything in between. My kids had a blast.

Came here for tulips. Buy some food from the store. Took some pictures. This place has entrance…read morefee. It's cheaper to book online than paying up front. Staff are friendly. I will Come back for apple picking

My first time coming here for an event. Had a great time watching the race. You can also gamble and…read moreplace bets. Sometimes they offer family events with lots to do for the kids which is awesome! Place is well maintained.

I know Ajax Downs Racetrack from two different angles. Over a decade ago, I worked in the gaming…read moreindustry. I wrote brief profiles about our clients. Ajax Downs was one of them. The other source was my manager. He had heard about the lobster tails dinner with prime rib at a cheap price, and wanted us to take advantage of it. I knew that a dinner deal like that (I think it was $14.99 at the time, but have no clue whether this deal is still on) would be popular. Waiting in line for a while for such a deal turned me off. I'd be hangry and no one needs to put up with that. A few weeks ago, Ajax held a walk-in ribfest at Ajax Downs. I had never been to this one. Frankly, the last time I had set foot at a ribfest was in 2018. I decided to give it a try. I did manage to see the racetrack while I was circling to find a parking spot. I wish that I had taken a photo, but it's etched in my mind. It's closer to the casino. You truly can't miss it, even when you're preoccupied with parking! It's a dirt track. It had greenery. It looked nicely maintained. There are live races from May till October each year. Most races happen on Wednesdays. Each month, there's a race day on Sunday, but I don't get how the powers that be decide with Sunday of each month will be a race day. It's best to check the schedule before you head over here to take in some races and perhaps strike it rich. I was there on a Saturday afternoon, so the racetrack was quiet. The ribfest was not. It was nice seeing it so lively. Vendors were dishing out free samples of popcorn and such. There were many food trucks, from Caribbean good eats, to lemonade. I did find a parking spot fairly close to the ribfest's entrance. I lucked out in the E lot. Parking was free. There was also parking across the street where it was more on grass. I got half a rack of ribs and coleslaw from The Hogfather. Ajax Downs is so vast that it supported six ribbers, and included a huge area for hungry eaters to sit and chow down. Ajax isn't horrible to get to. From Markham, the commute is fine, with a few options. Highway 401 gets you here fairly fast, depending on the time of day. If you like a more scenic and relaxed drive, there's Taunton or Kingston Road. Ajax Down is ideal for an outdoors event like the Ajax Ribfest. I had a good time. The Beaches used to have Greenwood Racetrack eons ago. It was nice seeing a racetrack again. Next time, I'd love to check out the Downs itself when I'm not grabbing takeout for dinner. (211)