The Windsor Rib Fest is returning to the Riverfront Festival Plaza this weekend.
Last year's event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but this year organizers were able to secure the location to offer a drive-thru version of the event.
Festival promoter Victor Anast says they've done similar events across Ontario, with a layout designed to avoid any risks.
"We're going to have all the vendors in a row, we're going to have lanes set up and people can do the drive thru system where they can pick up their food and go. It's all contactless and we're really excited."
Anast says they couldn't go two years without having smoked ribs in town.
"Obviously of course we'd love to have an in-person event with music flowing, beer flowing and ribs smoking," he continued. "The drive thru will have to do for now and hopefully next year will be different."
Anast says communities have been very supportive of the event, and he's expecting that to continue this weekend.
While it's a bit of a damper that they can't drive residents to the core with an in-person event, he says they're thankful to be able to provide something to the community.
"Our festival would normally get 80,000 to 90,000 people over the three days right, so we're obviously going to miss that factor but hopefully the event can still live on. The other nice thing is if it rains you're in your car, so there's no concerns about the weather," Anast said.
Drive Thru Ribfest runs from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, September 18 and 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, September 19.
- with files from Rob Hindi