This summer will be the final year Ribfest is held in Naperville’s Knoch Park, and may be the final year it’s held in Naperville.
The Exchange Club of Naperville, which holds the annual event as a fundraiser for charity, is considering locations outside the city, including sites in Romeoville, Aurora and Oswego, Ribfest Executive Director Rick Grimes said.
Knoch Park will no longer be a viable location after 2019 because of several construction projects that are planned, including a new Naperville Central High School varsity girls softball field with synthetic turf that’s being built by Naperville School District 203.
“Knoch Park has been our home for over 30 years,” Grimes said of the fest, which draws as many as 200,000 people every year. “The park district and the city have been great partners to our club as we’ve put on this event for all that time. We kind of moved around within that park quite a few times for different land-use needs and have been able to adapt footprints.”
Grimes said he spoke with Naperville Park District officials in detail about their options and was told the only park district property available for the four-day fest in early July would be Rotary Hill. “That proves a challenge to us, although we haven’t shut the door on anything yet,” he said.
The Exchange Club has started reaching out to for non-park district locations in Naperville and properties outside of the city.
Romeoville, Aurora and Arranmore Farms in Oswego are listed as “potential locations” for Ribfest 2020, according to an Exchange Club board meeting agenda for Nov. 9 obtained by the Naperville Sun. “These three locations and the surrounding communities want to host Ribfest, a necessary requirement,” the agenda reads. “Bolingbrook has indicated that they are not interested.”
“The first and biggest criteria is they had to want us and know the cause,” Grimes said. “This is a fundraising event and the money goes back to over 50 charities for the prevention of child abuse and domestic violence. We need to continue to support these agencies and if that’s not in Naperville, we need to continue to support the charities that need our support.”
Since planning for Ribfest takes an entire year, the club will know the location of Ribfest 2020 by the time this summer’s festival ends, Grimes said. “We don’t want to be too far from home. We’re the Exchange Club of Naperville,” he said.
The group has made progress in talks with some locations and is close to being ready map out how the fest would be laid out at different sites, he said.
“We’re not looking to make it bigger, but (we’re) not necessarily making it smaller either,” Grimes said. “We should make it better.”
The Exchange Club board would make a final decision on a new location, unless they choose to delegate the task, according to the agenda.
“One of the drivers is, we are the Exchange Club of Naperville. If we’re unable to hold it in Naperville, we want to hold it relatively close,” Grimes said.
About half the people who attend Ribfest come from Naperville, he said.
A letter dated Dec. 19 was sent to Mayor Steve Chirico informing him that Knoch Park would no longer be the Ribfest location after 2019, according to documents obtained by the Naperville Sun. He was asked to inform the Naperville City Council.
Chirico could not be reached for comment.
Ribfest vendors and sponsors were notified of the location change earlier in the year.
“The good thing is when we talked with our vendors, our sponsors about this news, we didn’t have anyone who said then we won’t be there,” Grimes said.
Three headlining music acts are already confirmed for Ribfest 2019 and will be announced in January, according to an Exchange Club news release dated Dec. 18.
“We hope to make it a great Ribfest to kind of complete all those years in Knoch Park,” Grimes said.
