Good fest! Entry fee is $5 recommended but they let you in for $3 as well. We were not carrying enough cash and they let us (party of 2) for $3. Once inside, there were a few local vendors with rings, hats and clothes. If you like henna tattoos, they had a couple of those. Coming to the ribs, each participant had its own booth. They were long lines at almost each stall. You can also participate in rating the ribs if you would like. Once you are loaded with food and drinks, head over to the back and grab a seat to enjoy some nice local music. Take the dance floor if you like or just groove on the spot. read more

I really enjoyed the festival. That said, I am not a fan of ribs. I will eat them but they are not something I seek out. My biggest gripe is there is no way to eat ribs without having sauce, seasoning or something on your fingers. And, BBQ sauce does not do it for me. But fortunately, this festival offers so much more. For a $5 cover charge, you are granted in and out privileges of the festival which features quite a few food vendors, clothing vendors and two music stages. Not a fan of BBQ, well there were non BBQ vendors there too. My favorite non BBQ vendors were the Acapulco style Piña Coladas and the wood fire corn. Also, an Australian BBQ vendor offered some of the best cornbread I ever had and Shrimp on a Barbie which was incredible. The shrimp was also very reasonably priced ($6 for 9 shrimp). ... I know you are wondering how can you eat all this stuff while standing. Well, there were table and chairs provided by Budweiser and standing only tables for the transient bunch solely looking for a quick spot to eat quickly. The BBQ vendors had their trophies displayed from various competitions and attendees were able to vote for this year's favorite. ****Most companies accepted credit cards and there was an ATM on site.....The only thing missing was towelettes. read more

Windy City Rib Fest - Pina Colada - Festivals Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I always go to this to support the neighborhood event. But I wish that there were more Chicago Based rib joints there. Prices are pretty high for a festival. One place was selling "The Porker" for $30. Yep you got pulled chicken/pork, chicken leg/thigh, piece of sausage, 2 ribs, a piece of cornbread and what looked like a 1/3 cup of beans and cole slaw. All of fit in a regular take out styrofoam container. There was one place that was selling these things that were really delicious....two johnny cakes with mozzarella cheese in the middle and grilled. That was awesome. The venue itself needs to be better organized as there are lines to get food that stretch into the street, making it difficult to walk. Also they do not have enough chairs/tables for you to eat your food. We ended squatting on the window ledge of the old Barnes and Noble building. This festival could take a page out of the Chicago Food Truck Festival. They had the hook up when it came to having places to sit and eat. Gotta say we probably won't be attending next year. $5 to get into a venue to pay for overpriced food ain't my idea of a good time read more

Womp, womp. I had basically forgotten that I even went to this fest this year, but for some reason just remembered. Definitely not the best fest in the city, when there is a street fest every single weekend in every single neighborhood. I'm always disappointed that the food vendors aren't from Chicago, save for 1 or 2. Lines are crazy long, beer & tickets are crazy expensive, and there is a massive lack of seating for eating, considering that this food isn't exactly super easy & mess-free to eat. I do like the bands they usually pull, Trippin' Billie's played on Friday night of 2013 and they are always fun. I'm just not a huge fan of this fest, when there are so many other great ones to choose from. read more

Windy City Rib Fest - Festivals Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

The only Ribfest in Chicago with the national teams. Much cheaper than Naperville one. Great BBQ and music!

Not a lot of choices, which means more competition, more demand and less supply. So it makes sense that you would pay $8 for 3 ribs...3 ribs!!! This happens every 4th of July weekend and apparently Naperville has their version of rib fest with a lot more amenities, so next time you want to get some ribs, make sure to do your pros and cons then choose wisely. $5 donation goes to some random charity. read more

This event was good, but unfortunately I expected a lot more variety of rib vendors. I think we only had two vendors from Chicago present. Everyone else was either from around the U.S. or one was from Australia. The choices they had were really good, I had the opportunity to try a little bit of everything but it's because it was small and lines were really long. Wasn't extremely pleasant to walk around and be hassled by jewelry or soap vendors either. I wish they were a little more oriented in giving spots to 90% food places instead of anyone who pays... Either way I would recommend this for people to try next year (it's an annual fest) but be warned for the lack of choice in not only meat but also booze. read more

This festival is a summertime must-do! They bring in 5-6 of the top rib joints from around the country, and even Australia! Personal favorite has to be macaroni and cheese with BBQ brisket! Soooo damn good! 2 stages, 3 beer tents.......one has 10 different craft beers. Good times! read more

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Windy City Rib Fest is pretty dope. One of the many BBQ themed festivals in the city, WCRF does that and more. Plenty of vendors, music, and entertainment. One year I visited there was a basketball shooting challenge that was pretty cool. This year there was similar entertainment for all ages. I had Chicago BBQ this year and it did not disappoint. Pick a vendor, grab some napkins and wet wipes, find a table or curb, and sit back, relax, and enjoy the tunes during summer in Chicago. read more

Decent neighborhood fest. Not the biggest block party in the city, but definitely worth stopping by if in area and looking for something to do. I enjoyed the ribs I ordered. The single stage that had music had a band that added to the atmosphere. Beer was undifferentiated (Bud products) but reasonably priced. $5 cover is a bit steep for what is offered but not outrageous. read more

With an unexpected free evening on Friday, my partner and I decided to head to Windy City Rib Fest. SUMMARY Porky Chicks was fabulous, there was pretty good music, and tickets were easy to get, but there was very little variety in the style of ribs offered and wait times for food and drink were unnecessarily much too long despite it not being very busy. THE GOOD Porky Chicks, one of the rib vendors, was fantastic. Meaty, fall off the bone tender, complex smoky flavor, and just a touch of heat. I tasted their sauces and they were very good but I ended up not using any the ribs were so delicious on their own. Texas Thunder was pretty good as well, but not as tender and didn't have the same depth of flavor. The last band of the night, Trippin Billies, did a set that was about an hour long and put on a good show. Tickets were $1 each and available individually rather than in increments of 3 or 5, which made it easy to get just the right amount for more food or drink. There were several places to get tickets, so it was easy and quick to go get more as needed. THE BAD Aside from the rib vendors mentioned above, the other three rib vendors (Aussom Aussie's, ChicagoBBQ and Famous Dave's) were mediocre, at best. Tastes vary, though, so I can't knock the fest too much for that. The bigger issues were: 1) A lack of variety with the rib vendors. There were only five rib vendors, and they had similar styles. Just about all of the sauces were similarly sweet or sweet with just a touch of heat. Nothing actually spicy, nothing vinegary, nothing mustard-y or anything else, and with the exception of Porky Chicks, all of the vendors had similar, uninspired rubs and relied heavily on the sauce for flavor. I didn't try all of the sauces from one of the vendors--Famous Dave's had 7 or 8 sauces available and I didn't try them all because I found the ones I did try (as well as their ribs) lacking--but I did try all of the others. 2) Lines, waiting, lines, and more waiting. We arrived on Friday at 5:30 and it was not very busy, but it was clear most of the people there were there to eat and drink. Unfortunately, although it was quick and easy to get tickets, getting ahold of ribs and drinks was another matter. It took us three and a half hours to sample the five rib vendors and to get three drinks each. Our plan was to sample each rib vendor and then go back to the best for more, drinking along the way. Now we like to eat and drink, so we know how to make the most of a rib fest: we'd share a sampler from a rib vendor (3 bones, so chow time was minimal) and upon finishing immediately get in line for the next one, only sending one of us for drinks once we were in line for the next rib vendor. And with our wait times overlapping, it still took three and a half hours. A couple of the rib vendors were on the ball, relatively speaking, with only a 20-25 minute wait in line. The others had wait times between 40 minutes and well over an hour. Getting drinks was similarly a problem. Beer and wine wasn't too bad--it only took 10-15 minutes, and we later learned there was another beer tent on the far side of the fest that wasn't busy at all. Getting a lemonade, on the other hand, took 45 minutes. For my last drink, tired of waiting in lines, I got a frozen cocktail with almost no wait, only to learn there was no wait because the frozen drinks weren't really frozen (apparently the vendor was set up to freeze only 8 gallons an hour). I want to emphasize that I like festivals, and I don't at all mind waiting when it's packed. The crowd is part of the fun. But it wasn't very busy by any objective standard for a rib fest. The vendors just weren't adequately staffed, prepped, stocked, or set up. It was still a good time--a gorgeous night, a little food, a little drink--but we wanted to have a lot more to eat and drink and just weren't able to because wait times were so long. read more

For $5 admission you get the entertainment and the opportunity to purchase ribs from the vendors and shop through the stands of a few others that have undoubtedly paid for their booth space. The charge wasn't a lot, but there were only about 5 rib vendors and NO seating or places set up to eat what you purchase! The hand wash stations adjacent to the portapotties were out of water. The streets were filthy with trash, only one of the vendors we bought from even had napkins, but their sauce dispensers were empty and they served food service sides with their ribs. The lines were super long and blocking the street which made walking down almost impossible. One rib vendor actually made pretty decent sides that we enjoyed and had meaty ribs, but no napkins or sauce available here. The funnel cake sundaes were delicious to my teenage son. While we enjoyed the band on Saturday evening, due to the filth and the lack of seating, I would not bother coming to this event if it doesn't improve. read more

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This rib fest was small-but had some good vendors. The entertainment was nice-and it was an overall good outing for a day in the city.

A friend and I attended Windy CIty Ribfest on the Saturday evening of the festival. After attending Irving Park rib fest earlier in the summer, I can only liken these two festivals to the Hangover movies. The first is wildly entertaining that makes you want more, while the next is shorter, dirtier, and makes you want to take a shower after. Rib samples are $7 a pop, quite the steep price to pay especially in the Uptown neighborhood where the good people need their money for neck tattoos, paternity tests, and bail. What's worse, there are only a handful of vendors. Come on, Windy City "Rib" fest. I've seen more ribs at a Ruben Studdard pool party. That said, I had the sampler from Texas Thunder BBQ, whose ribs were warm and tender. Conversely, I chipped a tooth trying to tear into the ribs from the Chicago BBQ Company. The last time there was such an epic struggle separating meat from bone was in the movie "127 Hours." Smashmouth was the headliner band at the lone stage. I'm sure they didn't see themselves ending up being sandwiched between the train tracks and Ace Hardware, but just as when the Clintons appear together in public, they sucked it up, greeted the crowd warmly, and put on a convincing performance. They played all their hit songs from a decade ago. It made me fondly reminisce about a time when Tiger Woods could drive a golfball, and Lindsay Lohan could drive a car. Of course, my nostalgia could have been brought on by the running bus parked along the side of the street, emitting an Industrial Revolution's worth of exhaust. That's right -- this festival is neither kid nor canary friendly. 2 stars for the festival. It beat staying at home, but that was only because I have already watched all my "The Simple Life" DVDs. read more

We went yesterday as a family for great BBQ for the 4th- that part didn't disappoint. Not a lot of choices but we wanted to support the local business. We had a VERY upsetting and unfortunate event. Let's keep in mind, it was the 4th of July around 1pm and most people are in good moods. As we left, we walked back towards the entrance to exit (no other signs listed on how to get out) as we attempted to leave, we were verbally attacked by one of the event "greeters" she literally was yelling at us that we had to leave another way with no real direction how to get out. When we questioned where to go, she continued to yell at us- never have we seen anything like this. Our family follows rules and this women was so aggressive and mean that she upset our entire family who were just trying to have a nice day. My husband took photos of scene and plans on contacting the event management in hope this doesn't happen to another family again. It was very upsetting. read more

Such a great festival. The new craft beer tent is a welcome addition for beer lovers. Great selection as well. I really like that they aren't using tickets this year. Makes it much easier, and quicker, to get what you want. The folks running the event are very friendly and willing to help out. Good kids area off to the side with some fun activities. The music has been great as well. Good selection of ribs- you must try the Texas Thunder and Aussom Aussie. Definitely check out this neighborhood festival! read more