Ribfest Marks 25 Years in Lake Bluff

Threepeat winner Chi-Rack. Photo: Scott McNally Photography.

Ribfest 2026 · Saturday, October 3 · Downtown Lake Bluff

It began, appropriately enough, with an argument. At a Lake Bluff Park District Fourth of July party at the beach, a friend of Bluffer Christian Erzinger arrived with ribs he declared “the best ever.” Another friend claimed his were better. Erzinger had a third opinion. “I knew mine were better than both of them,” he recalls. A neighborhood competition was proposed, and Ribfest was born. It began with a handful of competitors and has grown into one of Lake Bluff’s most anticipated traditions, with more than 20 teams typically competing each year. “The friendship between team members and with other teams creates the loyalty,” Erzinger says. “The teams spend a lot of time and money, and there is tremendous pride involved.”

Last year, Chi-Rack won first place for the third consecutive year. “It took a couple years but we landed on a flavor profile that we loved. That doesn’t always translate into love and appeal from the judges or general public, but in this case the stars and flavors aligned,” says David Lidstrom, team captain of Chi-Rack. “We’ve worked very hard to keep improving from our first Ribfest as Chi-Rack back in 2018.”

The secret to success is unique to each team. “We’ve been perfecting our recipe for ten years, once a year, and credit our success to an emotional and behavioral connection to our muse...the pig,” says Jimmy Hugill, team captain of Notorious PIG. “But our secret ingredient is a $90 fifteen-year-old Char-Broil grill and, well, vibes.” Over at Stormy Weber, the strategy is similarly refined. “For more than ten years, Stormy Weber has followed the same winning formula: the wives do all of the work, the husbands drink beer and smoke ribs, and Mother Nature tries to destroy the whole operation,” says Lauren Towle.

Behind the jokes, however, Ribfest has developed a considerably more meaningful formula. Dawn and Greg Barnum of Beef4Hunger were among the event’s early competitors. Erzinger says organizers had promised the Village they wouldn’t sell food, but spectators continually asked what they could give in exchange for what teams were serving. “Beef4Hunger seemed a natural fit,” he says. Since Beef4Hunger was founded in 2013, it has been Ribfest’s charitable beneficiary. Over the past 12 years, the event’s fundraising competition has generated more than $100,000 in donations for the organization.

This year, 23 teams will compete, with the fundraising component newly titled the Beef4Hunger Fundraising Award—awarded to the team that raises the most money for the organization.

So while the ribs remain serious business—and the methods behind them somewhat less so—the result has become much bigger than determining who gets bragging rights. A friendly argument over ribs became a tradition. The tradition became a fundraiser.

And somehow, a fifteen-year-old Char-Broil grill, a few beers, some questionable weather and a whole lot of competitive pride continue to help feed people along the way.