The thirteenth annual Hudson Valley RibFest was held at the Ulster County Fairgrounds in New Paltz, NY from August 18 to 20, 2017. We attended with a couple of friends.

Six Barbecue Rib vendors sold their wares: Big Kev’s BBQ, Butch’s Smack Your Lips BBQ, Handsome Devil, LLC, Jack McDavid’s Down Home Diner, SmokeShack BBQ and Pigtails BBQ Company. Additional vendors offered classic fair food: roasted corn, fried dough, fried pickles, lemonade, Italian ices, soft pretzels, kettle corn, hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries, jerk chicken and shrimp. Gardiner’s Tantillo’s Farm sold apple cider doughnuts and pies, and Hudson Valley-based 4-H kids their milkshakes. A beer tent was also available for those with ID.

Other vendors offered items that ranged from clothing to cutlery.

The main stage featured live music including: Kayla Rae; The Black Dirt Bandits; Roadhouse Roosters; Nikki Briar; BedRock; and Americana Oak Bank; Liv Waters at and Country Fresh and also featured illusionist “Jace”.

There were also activities for kids e.g. a craft-making tent and inflatable bouncy houses. The “RibFest Express” train toured the fairgrounds.

A bull-riding apparatus was located near the beer tent.

The chef demo tent featured continuous cooking demonstrations and tastings where participants learned how to cook specific recipes were able to sample locally produced beer, wine and spirits.

Sixty participants competed in a barbecue competition, a highlight of the RibFest, which is affiliated with the Empire State BBQ Championship Challenge, a statewide series of competitive events intended to promote the love of barbecue. Unfortunately, ribs made for the contest were not made available to the public.

Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.