What started as a humble Naperville festival centered around ribs has exploded into a epic Fourth of July tradition, drawing people from throughout the Chicago area and nation for the world-class entertainment.
As Naperville bids farewell to a festival that has outgrown its location, the one constant over the years has been the Exchange Club of Naperville’s commitment to keeping the event family-centered.
Here’s a look at Naperville Ribfest from a time line perspective, starting with its inception.
1987: The idea for a community festival centered on ribs is hatched at a family gathering of Glen Ekey, who executive director of the Naperville Park District at the time. Ekey passes the suggestion on to Bruce Erickson, a charter member of the newly formed Exchange Club of Naperville.
1988: The first Ribfest kicks off on Rotary Hill for three days over Father’s Day weekend. The cost to attend was $2 a day, and guests saw bands like The Buckinghams, Three Dog Night and Ides of March perform.
1989: Ribfest moves location and date from Rotary Hill to Knoch Park and from June to around July 4.
1989 & 1990: The Illinois Professional Festival Association voted Ribfest the Best Festival in Illinois.
1990: Ribfest runs for six days in 1990, ending on Wednesday, July 4.
1992: As the executive committee is meeting before opening night July 2, a storm tears through the park, damaging a number of rib vendors’ stands, concession tents and the sponsor balloons. For the first time, the Exchange Club cancels the evening events due to weather.
1993: Naperville Park District employees make repairs to Knoch Park after the end of Ribfest. An early estimate of the damage to the park is placed at $25,000. The biggest areas to repair are the baseball fields and major traffic areas used to enter and exit the park. Those areas will be reseeded and resodded.
1997: Naperville Noon Lion’s Club member Dave Esser, who had worked the Lions funnel cake booth July 5, finds a briefcase on Hillside Road near the entrance and turns it over to Mayor George Pradel and Bill Young, chief of the Park District Police. At the same time the Best family, owners of Kentucky Bourbon Q in Westport, Ky., frantically search for the briefcase containing $15,000 to $16,000 that inadvertently was left behind while the family was loading up after the night. The grateful owners give free ribs to Lion’s Club members working at their funnel cake booth the next day.
1998: Ribfest organizers launch the festival’s first web page www.ribfest.net, aimed at giving local folks detailed information online about schedules and parking maps — and bringing word about the event to a much larger audience.
1999: Several families report exploding bottles of Colonel Johnson’s Thermo-Nuclear Bar-B-Que Sauce bought at Naperville’s Ribfest. A Northbrook homemaker found herself covered in the gooey, dark red condiment that had spewed forth like a spring-loaded snake from a phony can of nuts after she twisted the cap. Another woman in Geneva reported a bottle of sauce spontaneously exploded and, she claims, did $500 in damage to her kitchen and front room. The sauce was created by Johnson’s BBQ, based in Chesapeake, Va., which beat out 21 other vendors from across the nation to earn first prize for best ribs.
2000: Ribs from 21 vendors from across America to Sydney, Australia, are available for sampling at Ribfest. For the first time in the festival’s history, the same vendor – Jim Clayton of Texas Outlaws BBQ – wins first place for both best ribs and best sauce.
2002: The festivities are reduced from five days to four, and two of 18 vendors don’t show up. While temperatures were torrid, one “Cold As Ice” fan tries to boost a guitar belonging to a member of the rock band Foreigner. Despite all those challenges and more, the Exchange Club of Naperville collects a record $400,000 in profits.
2003: Hootie and the Blowfish, featuring Naperville native Jim “Soni” Sonefeld on drums, draws a record 45,000 people to Ribfest’s opening night. Scores of people are turned away at the gate after the grounds fill to capacity, and a violent summer storm sends metal scaffolding crashing to the ground, narrowly missing two organizers.
2007: Mike McManus, publicity liaison for the 20th annual Ribfest, estimates between 285,000 and 290,000 attended, up from roughly 262,000 the previous.
2008: An unofficial single-day record crowd of 75,000 shows up for the Fourth of July at the Naperville Ribfest, topping the previous record by more than 15,000 people. REO Speedwagon performs before the fireworks.
2009: While the idea for moving for moving Ribfest from Knoch Park was floated over the years, the Exchange Club of Naperville, the city and the Naperville Park District discuss the possibility of moving it to the 25-acre Nike Park. The move did not happen.
2011: As temperatures soar into the 90s, accompanied by high humidity, people feel the heat. A group of celebrity chefs at Ribfest report three heat stroke cases.
2012: Steve Miller Band wraps up early after lightning detectors begin sounding and the festival is forced to close.
2013: The death of a 63-year-old security guard casts a pall over festivities. Naperville Fire Department paramedics took the man to the emergency room of Edward Hospital, only blocks from the area where Ribfest was being held. He is pronounced dead there from an apparent heart attack, authorities said. The man is one of 12 people who required medical assistance throughout festival’s five-day run.
2015: A man is found dead under the Pharaoh’s Fury carnival ride at the Naperville Ribfest about three hours after the four-day festival opens. Police rule the death a suicide.
2016: An unexpectedly popular attraction is the amateur corn-on-the-cob eating contest, sponsored by Challenge Butter. At the beginning of the weekend, competitors need about a minute to finish an ear of corn. One teenager downs it in 37 seconds.
2017: A flap over Toby Keith’s scheduled appearance at Naperville Ribfest gains national attention when tickets go on sale in February. Many Naperville residents take to social media to criticize bringing Keith to town following his performance at President Donald Trump’s pre-inauguration concert, though just as many come to Keith’s defense. The hoopla catches national attention and a tweet from Ari Fleischer, a one-time White House press secretary for former President George W. Bush. Special $30 limited-time general admission tickets sell out within two hours.
2017: “Curly Hamilton” is chosen as the winning name of the mascot of the Exchange Club of Naperville’s 2017 Ribfest celebration.
2017: Big eaters try to qualify for the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Contest July 1 at the Naperville Ribfest, three days before the July 4 event in Coney Island, N.Y.
2018: The Buckinghams return to perform at Ribfest.
2019: Naperville hosts its last Ribfest in Knoch Park. The festival will move to Romeoville in 2020.
Compiled from Naperville Sun & Chicago Tribune archives
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