Ribs.
For a cause.
When you stop salivating, you'll want to mark your calendar for next July, when the Rotary Club of Port Moody hosts its first RibFest.
Needing to replace its annual golf fundraiser, Rotary cast an eye to its fellow clubs in B.C. and across Canada, and found other chapters enjoying great success - not to mention serving up great food - with their RibFest events.
PoMo Rotary now aims to recreate the family event at Rocky Point Park, modelled after the Kamloops Rotary's annual shindig, aiming for July 2015 for the first year and likely in August in the years to come.
At Tuesday's city council meeting, PoMo Rotary's Ian MacPhail said the event would be a chance to showcase Port Moody as a tourist destination, offering a family fun zone, live music, a beer garden, likely a salmon bake and, of course, loads of ribs (Kamloops had a corn roast but MacPhail said it would be too early in the season to do the same here).
The weekend-long event is expected to attract about 35,000 people, MacPhail said.
He asked PoMo council for in-kind support for the event, worth a total value of about $20,000: portable toilets and servicing; recycling and waste containers and collection; staff for site preparation, litter clean-up, washroom cleaning and site clean-up; and policing support for the event and beer garden.
CASH FOR A CAUSE
MacPhail said Rotary expects to make about $30,000 in profit that would be funnelled into community donations. The local group contributes about $90,000 each year to organizations such as the Share food bank, Eagle Ridge Manor, Mossom Creek Hatchery and more.
Coun. Zoe Royer expressed support for RibFest, noting the free event would provide a new draw for visitors to Port Moody.
But Coun. Diana Dilworth said, "I'm concerned about event fatigue in terms of volunteers, sponsors, staff," and noted there is already a parade and community picnic at the end of June, Golden Spike Days kicking off around Canada Day and RibFest coinciding with the start of the Summer Sundays concert series at the park.
"Our future goals would have this event in August but, for this year coming up, we don't have that option," MacPhail said. "As for volunteers, Rotary is pretty good at that."
Dilworth also suggested RibFest might conflict with the food cart program but MacPhail said the food truck operators are welcome to set up during RibFest and may well benefit from the large crowds at the park during the weekend.
Coun. Rosemary Small did not support the motion to provide in-kind support, plus policing costs, saying it was too much money for an untested event, particularly with so many other events already happening in July.
The rest of council voted in favour of it as well as a motion to have the chair of the economic development and arts and culture committees to meet with Rotary Port Moody to see if RibFest could be combined with the community picnic and/or fireworks events planned for next summer.
