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By Kevin Rothwell

Not likely to return

Vernon Ribfest officially doused

Jun 28, 2022 | 11:50 AM

There was lots of smoke, but ultimately no fire in an attempt to bring back Vernon Ribfest.

The event planned for July 8-10 at the Vernon Rec Centre complex is officially cancelled, following a society board of directors meeting on Monday.

“It has been a real rollercoaster. We had commitments for another $16,000 in the past week, but the board took a hard look at all the costs and couldn’t justify the risk. They made the right decision given all the information,” organizer Elaine Gallacher told Vernon Matters.

The City made an effort to assist, reclassifying the event resulting in a $5,000 reduction in rental fees, and Vernon Tourism provided a $3,000 grant.

The event had some major challenges after not receiving grants from the Regional District of North Okanagan. Coupled with a doubling  in security costs from $11,000 in 2019, and other expense increases, it put the event out of reach.

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“We feel really bad for the ribbers, they committed to the event, hired staff, bought product, booked hotel rooms, they have $100,000 invested in coming here,” a dejected Gallacher said.

The society has reached out to the Sun Valley Cruise-in Car Show to see if the rib trucks can take part in the event in Polson Park July 10, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to try salvage some of their expenses.

Sun Valley Cruise In Image submitted

Despite being successful in other Thompson-Okanagan communities this could be the last attempt to hold a Ribfest in Vernon.

“We haven’t discussed a future event. The ribbers are likely to be very reluctant to commit to this community again, given what’s happened,” Gallacher added.

Kamloops, Kelowna and Penticton are all hosting Ribfest events this summer.