Photo by Randall L. Schieber
Get ready to groove and grill this weekend with the 37th annual Jazz & Rib Fest. It will be three days of sensational jazz and mouthwatering munchies beginning July 22 through 24.
This year, the festival will take place along the newly revitalized riverfront Downtown.
The Scioto Mile will be packed with 44 live performances that range from local talent to world-renowned jazz masters playing on the three main stages in Bicentennial, West Bank and Genoa parks.
Headlining acts include Doc Severinsen & Byron Stripling, BWB, Norman Brown, Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Tower of Power.
Then there are the ribs. Grill masters are trekking from near and far to join the festival and compete for “Best Ribs” bragging rights. Twenty-three award-winning barbecue teams that hail everywhere from Texas to Canada are bringing the best of their barbecue and ribs to Columbus.
A small sample of the rib teams include Bad Wolf Barbeque (Toronto, Ont., Canada), Howling Coyote BBQ (Chicago), Schmidt’s German Village (Columbus), Texas Pit BBQ (Willis, Texas) and Johnson’s BBQ (Chesapeake, Va.). Each vendor will supply hot ribs, chicken and more.
The festival goes beyond just jazz and ribs. There will be Coney Island-esque games such as a Zoltar fortune teller machine, food samples from Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs, the L.L. Bean Bootmobile and grilling tips and free samples from the barbecue gurus at the Great American Cookout.
The festivities launch July 22 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and will continue throughout the weekend. Admission is free. Click here for more information on the festival, the vendors or the performance schedule.
Hailey Stangebye is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
