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By Victor Kaisar

Ribfest Lives On?

As 2025 Kamloops Ribfest approaches, announcement on new organizer to come ‘in a couple of weeks’

Aug 5, 2025 | 6:04 AM

KAMLOOPS — While the Kamloops Daybreak Rotary Club prepares to sink its teeth into one final edition of Ribfest, the club is also expected to make an announcement about the future of the summer staple in the next few weeks.

Longtime Rotarian and festival spokesperson Bryce Herman said preparations for this year’s edition — which will take over Riverside Park between Friday (Aug. 8) and Sunday (Aug. 10) — are going well.

“It’s hard to believe that it’s come up on us as fast as it has but we’re going to be at it,” Herman said. “We’ll get started on Wednesday with some of the pre-setup work. Thursday will be the big day for setup and then of course Ribfest opens on Friday and away we go. It’s going to be a great show this year. We’re really excited.”

In January, the Kamloops Daybreak Rotary Club announced that this year’s Ribfest would be the 13th and final one it hosts. That decision was made after club members voted to move on to a new event, though what that could be remains a mystery.

“Why people voted yes or no, they had their own reason but its matter of as a club we’ve spoken, and we want to do something new,” Danica Wilkinson with Daybreak Rotary told CFJC Today at the time. “We have so much expertise in the room, so it’s just a matter of what do we want to do. Is that a winter festival? Is that something outdoors, something with kids, families, those are the things we really care about.”

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Speaking on CFJC Midday, Herman said preparations for this year’s edition of Ribfest included finding another organization to take over planning and organizing the summer staple event in the future.

“It’s very close to being done,” Herman said. “This isn’t about pulling out and Ribfest disappearing. We want Ribfest to continue. It’s just that the Rotary Club reached a point where [members are] exhausted and they want to move on but we want to leave the legacy of Ribfest to another organization that can do great work and continue it on.'”

Herman also went on to suggest there will be future editions of Ribfest.

“We know we’re going to get there. That’s going to happen, and we’ll make that announcement in a couple of weeks,” he said. “It’s going to happen; I can tell you. You’ll see another Ribfest but you don’t want to miss this one.”

There will be five ribbers this year instead of six because of ongoing construction work for the new Riverside Park skating rink. Still, Herman notes there will be plenty of food and music on offer during the three-day event.

“Because it’s the latest year Rotary will be hosting this, we want to go out with a big crescendo,” Herman said. “We’re pushing hard and finding some extra things that we can do, and I think it’s going to be an incredible and exciting Rotary Ribfest.”

Volunteers still needed

Herman says the Kamloops Daybreak Rotary Club could use a few more volunteers for this year’s event. He said people interested in helping out should reach out online or head to the volunteer station at Heritage House.

“It takes about 300 people a day to get though the event but where we’re really finding that we could use some help is on the day of set up (Aug. 7) and tear down (Aug. 11),” Herman said. “What a lot of that is setting up tables and chairs or you help with some pop-up tents. It’s quite repetitive and mundane but they are all jobs that need to be done.

“We could definitely use some more hands so if you’re available please check in with us and we’ll find something for you to do.”