4-to-5 thousand racks of ribs at Midland Ribfest

The Northern Heat Rib Series stopped in Midland this weekend and welcomed nearly ten thousand people to its Ribfest at David Onley Park.

The festival ran from Friday to Sunday and featured three teams of ribbers, including Louisiana Bar-B-Que, Kentucky Smokehouse, and Memphis Blazin' BBQ. Awards were given for the best ribs and best sauce.

"We probably go through four to five thousand racks of ribs," said Mark Wilson, owner of the Northern Heat Rib series. "And we'll probably go through about 40-50 pails of sauce."

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Wilson has been operating ribfests for nearly two decades and says the ribs are smoked for extended periods using cherrywood and applewood.

"People come because they taste so good, and there's something so nice about grabbing something with your hand and eating it," he added.

The festival had 30 vendors in total, selling funnel cakes, bloomin' onions, smoothies, lemonade and other sweets.

Wilson admitted that the increased cost of living has had an impact in recent years.

"People still want to get out, but they don't have the money that they had in previous years because everything is so [expensive]," he said. "It's great that they still want to come out, but it's just tougher to run the business."

Midland is the 14th stop for the Northern Heat Rib Series and their summer tour. Their final Ribfests stops of the summer are in Waterloo next weekend and in Lindsay on Labour Day weekend.