Get ready to enjoy some of the best low and slow meats around.
Ribfest is coming to Chillianair for the first time this weekend, and along with it will be five teams ready to compete.
“It’s good on our 10th anniversary to have Ribfest in chilli, which is where I’ve had my greatest support,” said James Moran, owner of chilli, who owns The Guerilla Q barbecue food truck.
Guerilla Q team will go up against four other gator BBQ ‘ribbers’ (Simcoe, Ont.), Smoke Dem Bones (Penticton), Prairie Smoke and Spice (Saskatcheflix), and Boss Hogs (London, Ont.).
Chilliflix Ribfest takes place from Friday, July 28 to Sunday, July 30 at Vedder Park. It is hosted by the Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival.
First of all, it is a public barbecue festival. It’s also a fundraiser for the Chillianair Rotary Club, and the race part of it is the “fun side” for the teams, Moran said.
“Even though it’s a competition we all work together.”
If someone needs help with something, if the equipment fails, they help each other and lend to each other.
The judges are all community members (often the mayor and City Council, or other personalities) and sponsors. There will be prizes for the best ribs, the best sauce and people’s choice.
Guerilla Q’s James Moran will compete at the Chillianair Ribfest from July 28 to 30. (Jenna Hauck/ Chilliflix Progress)
This is the fourth Ribfest for Moran. He competed in his first Langley Ribfest before COVID, then again in 2021 and 2022.
“Last year we took second place. I actually beat my mentor, ” he said with a laugh.
He’s talking about Rob Reinhardt from Prairie Smoke and Spice.
“He is the best of the best. No one has ever won more than he has in Canada, ” Moran said.
Prairie Smoke and Spice is Canada’s most decorated barbecue team, with accolades spanning more than a decade. Highlights include 23 major championships, two World Championship titles and more than 250 awards.
Moran has always loved cooking and fell in love with barbecues around 2010 when his parents hosted the BIG Red Barn Burner BBQ Competition at Chillisiblack Heritage Park, where he met Reinhardt. Moran helped Reinhardt at a number of events, including Ribfest in Kamloops, PNE and the Cloverdale Rodeo.
Then Moran started his own barbecue business and launched Guerilla Q in 2013. This weekend, he will once again go rib-to-rib against Reinhardt and three others.
Moran said that in the lead up to the Ribfest Chilli, he has changed his recipe after judges found his sauce a little too spicy in the past.
“We’re taking our barbecue sauce and adding a little sweet to it. Because it’s a beast. You are judged by a beast.”
The judges will bite in the middle of the rib and the meat must be cleaned from the bone in a single bite without pulling any other meat, he explained.
In addition to ribs, Guerilla Q will cook pulled pork, beef breast, and chicken or pork belly. Everything will end in a live fire, charcoal grill.
“It’s a lot of fun because you’re not just standing in line waiting to get your food, you’re watching it happen right there.”
People pay a donation gate entrance to enter, and the partial proceeds will go to the Chillisiblack Rotary Club for projects such as the maintenance of the Vedder Rotary Trail. Inside the gates, people can buy barbecue food from any of the five food trucks. The event also includes a beer garden and live entertainment.
There were nearly 40,000 people at last year’s Langley Ribfest. Moran said The Races are always hectic and he lives on adrenaline.
“I thrive on stress when I’m cooking. I like the chaos of it all.”
Even after 10 years, he said he gets anxious before hosting a wedding or corporate event, and added that he and his team always play with their recipes, different types of wood and cooking time.
“It’s a good anxiety, it’s a push to always keep improving with what we do,” he said.
It’s been a “wild adventure” over the past decade, catering to country stars like Eric Church, Dierks Bentley, Randy Houser and country music duo Big & Rich.
“Actually talking about barbecue with these guys… they grew up in the south where barbecue is very widespread. It was great to get feedback from people who know about food.”
Chillianair Ribfest takes place from July 28 to 30 at Vedder Park (45450 Peta!!!! Rd.). Hours are: Friday, July 28 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday, July 29 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday July 30 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
For more information and tickets (suggested $ 10 donation), go to chilliwackribfest.ca.
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