{"id":18129,"date":"2017-08-23T12:05:45","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T16:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=18129"},"modified":"2017-08-30T16:09:08","modified_gmt":"2017-08-30T20:09:08","slug":"theres-no-escaping-the-smoky-sizzle-of-ribfest-or-is-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/theres-no-escaping-the-smoky-sizzle-of-ribfest-or-is-there\/","title":{"rendered":"There\u2019s no escaping the smoky sizzle of Ribfest \u2013 or is there?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ribfest arrives this week, bringing with it a unique, smoky sizzle that is a welcome escape from any boring and hum-drum mealtime.
\nBut, if the smoky and tangy ribs, the savoury bloomin\u2019 onions and the sweet Beaver Tails aren\u2019t enough \u201cescape\u201d for you, Aurora has another trick up its sleeve \u2013 Blackbeard\u2019s Brig, a new \u201cescape experience\u201d which can put your logic and lingo up to the test.
\nBased on the \u201cescape room\u201d concept, which are exploding in popularity as group and party destinations, this will be a first for Aurora\u2019s Ribfest which will feature classic music favourites Harlequin and David Wilcox.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re building from scratch the first municipal mobile escape experience that we want to launch at Ribfest,\u201d explains Shelley Ware, Special Events Coordinator for the Town of Aurora. \u201cStaff have brainstormed from scratch and created a mobile escape experience which is actually going to be pirate-themed. Teams of up to four people can attempt to see if they can solve riddles and clues for a successful escape.\u201d
\nTeams who do manage to escape the pirate\u2019s clutches will be entered into a draw for a barbeque gift set, as well as free entry to Aurora\u2019s Hallowe\u2019en-time Haunted Forest, which is favourite on kids\u2019 social calendars each October.
\n\u201cDifferent Town Staff groups have been the guinea pigs for us to assess how smooth and prepared we are,\u201d says Ms. Ware of the escape experience, advising, \u201cthose who will be successful will need to be fluent in pirate-speak and should have a comfort level with nautical coordinates.\u201d
\nThe development of Blackbeard\u2019s Brig is just one example of the ways organizers try to keep a perennial party fresh, exciting and offering something new for seasoned ribbers to newbies.
\n\u201cTwo big trends are the foodie trend \u2013 and I think with the diverse palate covered at Ribfest we have covered off that angle quite nicely \u2013 and the second huge trend emerging in the special events industry is the escape experience,\u201d says Ms. Ware. \u201cPeople want to experience things, do things that take them out of their comfort zone, things they wouldn\u2019t have tried before, and escape rooms are becoming common now. In Aurora, a new escape room [on Edward Street] just opened up two weeks ago and we have been working on this for several months now. This just confirmed we\u2019re on track with the trend.\u201d
\nIf escape rooms aren\u2019t your thing, there is also something new to tickle the most experienced palate with the Hog Father, a new rib team \u201cFrom the deep, south hills of Tennessee\u201d joining the Ribfest circuit.
\n\u201cWe are very excited to welcome them into the Aurora Ribfest Family,\u201d says Ms. Ware. \u201cIn addition to that, I think Ribfest really has a great balance of foods. Personally, I am a fan of the roasted corn on the cob as well as the roasted yams, and I don\u2019t know anyone who can escape Ribfest without wanting or even having a Bloomin\u2019 Onion, as well as Beaver Tails. There really is something for every palate. Some people think of Ribfest and they only think of the meat component, but I think Ribfest really does cater and offer a real variety. Even those who are perhaps vegetarian will find something just as tasty to those who do enjoy ribs.\u201d
\nAway from the grills, fryers and roasters, the action will take place on the main stage. In addition to Friday\u2019s headliner of Harlequin and David Wilcox the following night, entertainment will include the Top 20 semi-finals of Magna\u2019s Hoedown Showdown, which is looking to find Canada\u2019s next country star.
\nWorking the Canada 150 theme, all of Ribfest\u2019s entertainment will hail from Canada. Saturday\u2019s entertainment lineup will open with Winnipeg Wind, a tribute to the Guess Who. On Sunday, youth band Louisa and the Planets, featuring Louisa Barbosa, will take the stage, while the festivities will close with the Stacey Renee Band.
\n\u201cThis, in my opinion, truly is a homecoming event and it certainly has become a summer tradition for many residents and it is always with a lot of pride when you overhear people talking and they mention how they have invited friends up to Aurora to visit them because of this event,\u201d says Ms. Ware, underscoring Ribfest as a \u201cgreen\u201d event as well.
\n\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t realise that 90 per cent of the disposable by-product is all either compostable or recyclable. The green initiative is something that we\u2019re quite proud of, that it would be nice for people to realise, especially when they go to dispose of their by-product that we have gone to great efforts to ensure that it is as green as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more on the Festivities, visit www.aurora.ca\/ribfest. <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ribfest arrives this week, bringing with it a unique, smoky sizzle that is a welcome escape from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4Ip","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 10:53:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}