First-year event to feature rib competition, live entertainment and more
By Kellen Olshefski
SLN Staff
The Walworth County Fair is ramping up for its first ever Elkhorn Ribfest, a national rib competition slated for this weekend at the fairgrounds.
“It’s a first year event and our expectations are just for everybody to have fun and enjoy the food, music, and hopefully we’ll continue on to make it an annual event,” Walworth County General Manager Larry Gaffey said.
The three-day event, slated for July 15-17, will center around a national rib competition, featuring barbecue pitmasters from around the nation, some of which have already won national competitions. The event will be held on the fairgrounds around the band shell and picnic shelter.
The event will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, and admission and parking is free all weekend.
Gaffey said barbecue companies will compete against each other for a people’s choice award for their ribs, brisket, pulled pork and chicken, and sauce, with visitors voting on a paper ballot or through a QR code on their smartphones. He said national barbecue companies will be selling their product to the public over the three-day event.
Gaffey said the event will also feature a community division, a competition for those who don’t necessarily do it professionally, judged by the professionals on Sunday.
On top of barbecue, Gaffey said there would be plenty of other food vendors, offering up items like funnel cakes and ice cream.
Outside of the food choices, Gaffey said there will be plenty of other options for visitors to the event. The event will feature a craft and artisan village, put on by the Elkhorn Area Chamber of Commerce and featuring a number of different vendors. Gaffey said there would be plenty of activities for children and the event will be sharing the fairgrounds with Walworth County Relay For Life’s annual event on Friday.
However, the fun doesn’t stop there as Gaffey said the event will feature live music all day, all three-days. Major acts for the weekend include Chasin’ Mason on Friday, The Toys on Saturday and the Walworth County Idol competition on Sunday.
“That’s the idea, for families to come out and have a good time,” Gaffey said. “If you want to hang around and listen to some music later in the night, we’ve got that too.”
The Elkhorn Rotary Club will also be serving beer, Miller products, over the course of the weekend.
Gaffey said the event’s biggest sponsor is Frank’s Piggly Wiggly, a company they could not have pulled this off without.
“We wanted to feel confident going into it that we could try and book the right entertainment and that sort of thing, and Frank and Stephanie (Lueptow) were more than happy to help,” he said.
The event is additionally being sponsored by Miller and Kunes Country Auto Group. Lake Geneva House of Music also contributed by lining up musical acts for the event.
“There’s a lot of people pitching in, it’s truly a community event,” Gaffey said.
For more on the event, including other musical acts, visit walworthcountyfair.com.
An idea is born
Looking to bring something new to the fairgrounds this year, Gaffey said he had seen a similar event about 20 years ago, which immediately popped into his head.
He said what started off as a free event 20 years ago has now grown to be an event with full-blown concerts.
“I saw another community do it, thought it was really neat and people seemed to enjoy it, so I though, why not try it here,” he said.
With nothing similar really going on in the area, Gaffey said he reached out to a couple large barbecue companies to see if they’d have interest in this type of event and soon the ball had gotten rolling.
“Everything seems like it’s coming together pretty well,” he said.
Regional pros
Gaffey said he has two regional companies competing in the professional division in the annual event: LD’s BBQ in East Troy and BBQ King Catering out of Woodstock, Ill.
To put a little perspective to the quality of pitmasters being brought in for this year’s event, Gaffey said BBQ King Catering recently took first place in both the Chicago and Windy City barbecue festivals.
“They’re all champions and we’re just kind of excited to see how our local guys do up against these big national companies,” he said. “It’ll be really neat to see what the people think compared to these big pros when they come in.”
