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March 28, 2024 3:10 pm
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Plenty of Flavors, Opinions at Ribfest

By WESLIE STRATTON

Moapa Valley Progress

The third annual Rib Fest event participants enjoy a BBQ dinner at the CasaBlanca resort. PHOTO BY WESLIE STRATTON/Moapa Valley Progress.

The third annual Mesquite Rib Fest kicked off on Friday, Sept. 6 and ran through Sunday, Sept. 8 at the CasaBlanca Resort. Visitors came from all over the region to enjoy the festival which featured award winning BBQ vendors, entertainment and various contests.

Christian Adderson, the Events Marketing Director at Mesquite Gaming said that the event has built in its attendance every year. This year saw an estimated 2-3 thousand people come through the event over the weekend, Adderson said.
“It was a great crowd throughout the festival,” Adderson said. “It was a really good time, I think, for everyone!”

Though the Ribfest event draws crowds from Las Vegas to southern Utah and beyond, at it’s heart it aims to be a great community event, Adderson said.

“It is fun for the whole family,” Adderson said. “There are lots of things to do, trying out great food and playing games and just enjoying the time together. We really like to keep it a real local feel.”

As part of that local focus, a number of contests were held pitting local organizations against one another in a friendly eating contest. Prizes were cash awards from Mesquite Gaming company donated to a charity of the winners choice.

One of these contests was the annual watermelon eating competition between the Mesquite Police Department and the Mesquite Fire Department. This year, the policemen were the winners of the contest, and $1,000 will go to a charity of choice for the MPD.

Another smaller watermelon eating contest took place between two local school principals. Riley Frei of Virgin Valley High School went up against Maury Perkins of Hughes Middle School. On the line was a $500 cash prize that would go to the winning principal’s school. Perkins ended up winning the prize for eating the most melon in the contest.

Adderson said that the barbecue ribs served up at the event were high in quality coming from the three prize-winning barbecue teams that cooked for the festival.

“It was amazing!” Adderson said. “Every year, people always ask me which one is my favorite and it is just hard to answer that. I tried them all and they are all just so good!”

The crowd got to weigh in on their favorites in a People’s Choice competition. And the range of opinions on the BBQ quality was nearly as varied as the number of people attending the festival.

Juan and Susan Palma attended the event from St. George, Utah and were very pleased with what they tasted. They purchased their rib meals from the Texas Outlaw BBQ team and reported that they thoroughly enjoyed both the ribs and sides of beans, coleslaw and a roll.

“The ribs are falling off the bones!” Juan said. “I’d give it a solid score of eight.”
Jo and Karman Klassy attended the event from their home state of Idaho and were a little less enthused with their taste. They chose to sample the Austin Texas Lightning BBQ and expressed a little disappointment.
“I am somewhat of a rib connoisseur,” Jo said, adding that she prefers a more heavily smoked flavor that was simply lacking in that particular dish.

“Each person has a different ideal of how they like their ribs to taste,” Adderson said. “Different people have different favorites. But I think for this festival, these expert teams really delivered on most people’s preferences.”

Event attendees were also able to enjoy daily concerts in the Skydome Lounge as well as the CasaBlanca Showroom.

The people’s choice contest results had not yet been announced by the press deadline of this week’s edition.

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