Saturday afternoon kicked off the 2nd Annual “Pork in the Park” Ribfest at the MARC, sponsored by the Merrill Area Chamber of Commerce.
Last year, the event drew an estimated 1,300 people and consumed 650 pounds of ribs. This year, those numbers doubled. According to Chamber executive director Debbe Kinsey, preliminary estimates indicate 3,000 visitors. In turn, 1,100 pounds of ribs were consumed in a matter of a few hours.
“That sort of turnout just made our heads spin!” Kinsey states with a chuckle.”We are so thankful to have that many people.”
As Kinsey explains, the event was already showing promise even before the pre-determined start time of noon.
“We had people lining up here as early as 11! By 11:30, we had so many people here we had to get started, so we opened a half hour early. From the very start, there was a huge rush. Everyone just converged at once!”
The only complaint Kinsey mentions from last year was cooks running out of ribs very early in the event. The chamber attempted to rectify that this year by limiting the number of ribs to two bones per person, doubling the amount of ribs up to 1,100 pounds, and drawing 12 cooks – four more than last year. Many cooks again sold out early, some as early as 1 p.m.
“We thought by doubling meat and limiting the number of ribs, we would slow that down. But when you have 3,000 people coming in, the ribs are going to go quick and there isn’t much we can do about it.
“I think the weather was a huge factor,” Kinsey explains. “It was a gorgeous day, which brought a lot of people out. If weather had been poor, the ribs may have lasted longer. Overall, I think we did all we could do. When you have a turnout like this, and people lining up that early, it’s really out of our control at that point. We know this event will grow every year and it’s hard to plan for everything.”
Geiss Meat Service took first place on Saturday, after placing third last year. Kurt -n-Jo’s took second place, while Dustin McNeil took 3rd. Kim’s BS was named People’s Choice winner.
“We are extremely pleased with how everything came together,” Kinsey adds. “We had great weather and we are just overwhelmed once again by the turnout. I don’t think anybody was expecting this kind of result.”