From the smoky grills to the echo of tribute bands in Riverside Park, Ribfest 2025 is set to return for three days of BBQ, music, and community spirit — but this year’s event comes with a major change.
“This is the final year that the Kamloops Rotary is putting the event on,” said Bryce Herman, long-time organizer and spokesperson for the festival. “But it is continuing to work on finding an organization that can take over the festival, and remain hopeful it will be successful.”
The festival, which runs August 8–10 in Riverside Park, is Western Canada’s largest rib fest, and features free entertainment, a beer garden, a Family Fun Zone, and of course, award-winning ribs from champion ribbers.
A Tighter Setup, But Big Appetite
Construction at the park around the new outdoor skating rink has reduced available space this year, forcing organizers to scale back to five ribbers instead of the usual six. “We’ve got five of the six ribbers that came from last year,” Herman explained. “The reason for one of them to be stepped back is that the construction in the park has created some restrictions of space.”
That said, Herman emphasized the layout has been thoughtfully reconfigured to ensure the public won’t notice much difference. “We’ve taken our back-of-house operations — sustainability and all of those types of things — and we’ve moved those down into the parking lot. So it doesn’t impact anything in the front of the main stage or in that area in any way.”
Lines could be slightly longer during peak times, but Herman believes it will be manageable. “They are ramped up, knowing that there are less of them by one. But they also understand that keeping that moving — without a doubt — is important. Everything moved fairly good last year, and I’m anticipating about the same kind of flow and activity.”
A Rockin’ Weekend
Ribfest’s main stage entertainment starts at noon each day, with an all-star lineup of local artists and high-energy tribute acts.
“We’ve got an incredible lineup of local musicians,” said Herman. “But our closing acts — I think — are the ones that everybody always looks forward to.”
Friday, August 8
• 11:30 – 12:00 — Opening Ceremony
• 12:00 – 1:00 — Barefoot Twins
• 1:00 – 2:00 — Bunch Grass Boys
• 2:00 – 3:00 — Inverse
• 3:00 – 4:00 — Chemical Smile
• 4:00 – 5:30 — Coalmines Basement
• 6:00 – 7:30 — Runaway (Bon Jovi Tribute)
• 8:00 – 9:30 — Classic Elton (Elton John Tribute)
“That’s the Yellow Brick Road Experience, which has now been rebranded to Classic Elton,” Herman said. “They are just working their way in to try and get into a residency in Vegas.”
Saturday, August 9
• 12:00 – 1:00 — Jim Malahoff & Friends
• 1:00 – 2:00 — Little Rusty Band
• 2:00 – 3:00 — Jenny & The Gents
• 3:00 – 4:00 — Against The Grey
• 4:00 – 5:00 — Some Band
• 5:00 – 6:00 — Chapter 9
• 6:00 – 7:30 — Wild One
• 8:00 – 9:30 — Live Wire (Mötley Crüe Tribute)
“They are one of the best Mötley Crüe in all of Canada as far as tribute acts. We’re really excited about them on Saturday night,” Herman said.
Sunday, August 10
• 12:00 – 1:00 — Rooster
• 1:00 – 2:00 — The Out Seer
• 2:00 – 3:00 — Spectrum
• 3:00 – 4:00 — Shattered Blue
• 4:00 – 5:30 — Paisley Groove
• 6:00 – 7:30 — Stagefright (Def Leppard Experience)
• 8:00 – 9:30 — Lips (Rolling Stones Tribute)
“That’s going to be a Rolling Stones tribute. And again, big 10-piece show band. They are tremendous,” said Herman.
All-Ages Atmosphere, Free Family Fun
As always, Ribfest remains free to attend and family friendly, with an expanded Family Fun Zone, face painting, and even a watermelon-eating contest. “There’s lots to do,” Herman said. “Get down and enjoy it.”
He also reminded festivalgoers that the entire park is licensed again this year, so drinks can be enjoyed throughout the grounds. “We will be putting wristbands on everybody who is over 19. So it doesn’t matter whether you’re going to have a drink or not — don’t be offended by that.”
“What we’re trying to do is make sure that if you happen to go up and pick something up for somebody else, we know that you’ve already been through the system.”
Powered by Volunteers — For the Community
It takes about 300 volunteer shifts per day to run Ribfest. While not all individual positions require new people each time, Herman said there are lots of opportunities for people to get involved.
“There’s back-of-house where if you’ve got a few skills in carpentry, those come in handy as well,” he said. “We’ve got sustainability opportunities. We’ve got opportunities for people to work in security… certainly lots of opportunity to work with young folks in the Family Fun Zone.”
Interested volunteers can sign up at www.kamloopsribfest.com.
Since launching in 2012, the event has raised significant funds for organizations including Kamloops Food Bank, PIT Stop, TRU Nursing scholarships, BC SPCA, Kamloops Brain Injury Association, and many more.
“We are proud that our event raises money for our community,” Herman said. “It has a significant economic impact to local businesses and is a signature event Kamloopsians can be proud of.”
In 2024 alone, organizers spent over $275,000 with locally owned businesses to support the event.
Organizers say the weekend has an economic impact of $6.2 million over the three days. Overall, Ribfest has generated a staggering $45 million economic impact for Kamloops since 2012.
Some 80,000 people make their way thru Riverside Park over Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
