Heavy rain and strong winds which slammed the Regina area on Thursday evening were enough to delay a weekend food event in the city.
Organizers of the Queen City Ribfest have announced that the event will not open on Friday due to damages suffered from the storm.
“When the wind hit, the trailer banners were up in the air, and that’s something we’ve never seen before,” shared Rob Reinhardt, owner of Prairie Smoke and Spice BBQ and organizer of Queen City Ribfest.
“Once we realized how severe the wind was, we cleared our staff out and watched from the sidelines. It happened really fast.”
Reinhardt told Global News on Friday morning that one Ribfest operation is destroyed from the storm.
However, he did provide an update on Friday afternoon via social media that the event will go Saturday and Sunday after organizers assessed damages to the other stands.
Organizers call the event the city’s biggest BBQ gathering which offers dishes including pork ribs, beef ribs, pulled pork, brisket and chicken.
The festival is hosted by Carmichael Outreach, who will provide several volunteers throughout the weekend.
“To come this far and wake up to find out that this had happened was pretty devastating. But the Carmichael story is one of resilience, and as you can see, we’re still planning to continue the event this weekend,” stated Alysia Johnson, Carmichael Outreach board chair and president.
Ribfest will be hosted at Evraz Place.