2013 Ribs on the River and Illinois Whitewater Festival

Yorkville's Riverfront Park and Marge Cline Whitewater Course played host to two great events this past Saturday: the second annual Ribs on the River barbecue rib contest and the Illinois Whitewater Festival. 

The Illinois Whitewater Festival featured kayak lessons throughout the day, a cardboard boat regatta, and the first annual Mayor's Cup whitewater rafting race.

The Ribs on the River festival featured a barbecue rib competition, other food vendors, and various local companies and political groups. To cap off the night, 80's/classic rock cover band EPIC performed at the Riverfront Park pavilion. 

One of the rib contestants at this year's event was Bear BQ, a team lead by Tom Beizaks. Bear BQ won first place at last year's inaugural event, both from the judges and the crowd favorite votes. Joe Cavender, who was selling the ribs for Bear BQ, explained why he thought their ribs were the best. 

"We have the best homemade barbecue sauce," he said. "Everything in it is homemade, down the the peppers grown in Tom's garden."

Another return contestant from last year was Bubba's Ribs, but this year they were unfortunately without founding member Chester "Chet" Johansen Jr., who passed away on March 7th. 

Chet's wife, Joan Johansen, said that they plan on keeping Bubba's Ribs a family tradition at Ribs on the River every year in memory of Chet.

When asked about what makes Bubba's Ribs so good, Joan said "The way that we cook them - using smoke and steam - and the special Jamaican sauce that we use."

Judges voted on their favorite ribs using three criteria: appearance, tenderness, and taste (flavor). This year's winners were:

1st place: Grand Old Pork

2nd place: That's BBQ

3rd place: Kendall County BBQ Crew

Patrons also voted for their favorite ribs by purchasing 50/50 raffle tickets. The winner of the crowd favorite for this year was, once again, Bear BQ. The crowd winner of the 50/50 jackpot was Pat Cruz. Both Bear BQ and Pat Cruz donated portions of their winnings to the Yorkville 4th of July fireworks fund.