The Naperville Exchange Club’s annual event had over 200,000 visitors pass through Knoch Park over the course of four days.
People came from near and far to eat ribs cooked up by 12 different “ribbers,” enjoy the carnival, and listen to the music.
“Just remember it takes over 4,000 volunteers to put this on every year, and that’ll show you where we are,” said Erin O’Donnell, Director of Marketing & Public Relations for Ribfest. “So the volunteers are not just the people here working the park, it’s the people setting it up too, so it’s really quite remarkable. Everything’s volunteer and as you know it’s a fundraiser and all the money goes to prevent child abuse and domestic violence.”
New this year was Ribfest’s mascot “Curly Hamilton” and a qualifying round for the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
And the Naperville Police Department reports that there were no arrests or major incidents at this year’s celebration.
Ribfest 2018 is tentatively scheduled for July 4-7.
Naperville News 17’s Evan Summers reports.
