The Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival Ribs Burnoff will have a variety of food vendor booths at the Stark County Fairgrounds on Aug. 4, 5 and 6 from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. daily.
Rib and specialty vendors will occupy 34 booths. Rib vendors will compete to win top prizes as judged by more than 80 judges on Wednesday and Thursday, with the winners to be announced on Thursday at approximately 5 p.m.
The Best Sauce Award winner will be judged by seven professional area chefs. In addition, a “People’s Choice Award” will be given based on surveys taken by an anonymous, independent group who will survey the general public at the event to determine the Ribs Burnoff best ribs according to the populace. The winning vendor will receive a plaque and “bragging rights” for the remainder of the event.
Five restaurants and caterers from Stark County will be serving ribs and competing for the prizes, including Chariot of Fire, Jack on the Bone Rib Team, Main Street Grill, Old Carolina Barbecue Co. and Two Fat Guys. Armadillo’s (2009 Most Outstanding Rib winner) is an Ohio vendor (Youngstown, Ohio), and out-of-state participants include Gator’s BBQ (Port Dover, Ontario, Canada), Texas Pit BBQ (Willis, Texas), Toys for Tots–Starcon (Manhattan, Ill.), and Susie’s BBQ (Falcon, N.V.).
Specialty food vendors will occupy 13 booths, including Big D’s Concessions, Baja Pizzafish, Big Kahuna’s/Cream A Lot, Casto Concessions, DeStefano’s Concessions, DG Concessions, DiRusso Concessions, Island Delights, Jack & Rich French Fries, Lil John’s Concessions, Ooey Gooey Concessions and Sipe Concessions/DiRusso Sausage.
Admission to the Ribs Burnoff is free. On-site parking at the fairgrounds is free each day until 4 p.m., when a fee of $5 per vehicle will be charged. In addition to great food, the event will feature national musical entertainment:
* Wed., Aug. 4, on the Emergency Medicine Physicians Stage: The fantastic Frontiers|The Journey Tribute, presented in cooperation with WRQK 106.9.
* Thurs., Aug. 5, on the Sheetz Stage: Country artist Chris Young presented in cooperation with WQXK K-105.
* Fri., Aug. 6, on the Wayne Dalton Stage: Fan favorite Michael Stanley and the Resonators presented in cooperation with Mix 94.1.
Free, standing room only viewing is available on the track in front of the stage, or reserved grandstand seats can be purchased for just $8 at the Chamber office, 222 Market Ave. N, in downtown Canton from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, and at the event each day at the souvenir booth or in the evening at the “will call” center at the north end of the grandstand.
In addition to the national musical acts, attendees can enjoy activities all day on the expanded Ohio Lottery Day Stage, featuring free musical entertainment from 5:15 to 6:45 p.m. Performers include True Blue on Wednesday, Wild West Band on Thursday and Mr. Trick on Friday. Other family activities include an expansive children’s entertainment area with face painting, caricaturists, balloon twisters, Fantasy Football Zone of interactive inflatables powered by AEP Ohio, master sand sculptor, Lowe’s Build & Grow, U.S. Army Special Forces interactive unit, Xbox 360 Kinect Experience Tour and much more.
For more information, call 330-458-2054, or visit www.profootballhofef.com.
where did all the rib vendors go? someone must have changed something to scare them all away instead of trying to get more of them to show up each year.way to go canton,probably wont be long till they move the festival to new york.
Comment by Brian — August 3, 2010 @ 6:14 pm
Brian- The entry fees for a rib team are very expensive and the sales are nothing like what they used to be downtown. Also, there is a much larger rib burn off at the same time else where that many of the rib vendors now attend instead of Canton.
Comment by Cristina — August 3, 2010 @ 7:30 pm
Thank You for answering my question.They moved it from downtown and the entry fees are apparently more costly then they used to be.Vendors are now going somewhere else, so then lets fix what has been broken and bring them back to Canton.
Comment by Brian — August 4, 2010 @ 4:09 pm
Anybody know if the floats from the parade are on display for viewing this year? And if so, where?
Comment by Lynda C — August 7, 2010 @ 10:35 pm