July in Michigan means the Michigan Rib Fest is taking place. This year’s location was at Canterbury Village in Orion Township. We liked this location in the grassy back field area over last year’s location of downtown Royal Oak in an asphalt parking lot.
We entered through the steel frame entry that to me reminds me of the framing that one uses for the lighting at concerts. There’s a small entry fee and for those over 21 you get a nice paper wristband. However, with that wristband you can leave the grounds, go shopping and come back in for no additional charge. Plus, if you are military, you get in for free.
My first priority of going to the Michigan Rib Fest was to eat. I went hungry, which is by far the most recommended. With that, I didn’t look closely at the vendors. I did notice that Crown Royal was there making bags for soldiers. I wish I would have gone back to check out their booth closer. Plus, they had a royal purple chair.
We got back close to the food vendors and found the monster truck rides. These were a portion of the asphalt parking area. It was far enough away from where you eat that you could only hear the siren noises that it made. The engine noises were minimal at a distance. Right behind it were the inflatables for the kids along with the portable rockwall.
This is all well and good, but what did we eat? I know that’s my first thought when reading an article about a rib fest anywhere. We walked around the food vendors before deciding which ones to go to. They were nicely spaced out and a variety of vendors. Along with barbeque they had Asian food and even ice cream available. Ice cream is a great vendor when you have the heat that Michigan has been having this summer.
After our tour of who all was there as a food vendor we decided on 3 vendors to try out their ribs. They all offered a 2 or 3 bone sampler for $5 or $7 respectively.
The first vendor that we went to was Smoke Ring BBQ out of Farmington Hills, Michigan. To fairly compare the rib samples, we did not get any sauce on any of them. Pictured to the right is the three bone sampler that we received. Note they are meaty and we found them to be tender and the meat fell off the bone.
I would eat at this food truck again. They were friendly when we approached the window. The food was up in a timely fashion and they had paper towels along with sauces and forks. Their sign caught my attention: “Sorry we didn’t bring our trophies and awards to display, we decided to leave them at home where they belong. All we brought was our DAMN GOOD BBQ” I have to agree that they have good BBQ.
The second vendor we decide to patronize was Hog Wild BBQ. They have a really flashy truck. I like the bright orange and the hog on a motorcycle. There was not a line at their food truck and I can understand why. We approached the window and they were not ready to greet us.
Our order was the two bone sampler with no sauce. We picked it up at the grill. The guys working the grill were not the welcoming committee. These bones were not very meaty and pretty dry.
We decided on Pork and Bones for our third food truck. The name really caught us and amazingly there was a very small line. Very friendly people at the window to take our order and when handing out our two bone sampler.
The rib sampler was very meaty and tender. The meat also fell off the bones. Definitely gave Smoke Ring BBQ a run for their money. In my book the two are tied.
For beverages we just hit up one of the lemonade stands. That was the longest line we waited in. The family ahead of us ordered 5 lemonades and the gals were overwhelmed. Patience is a virtue There are no refills, even for the large plastic cups.
We headed back to the front of the festival to the Hot Dog Pig Races, which we were on the schedule shortly. There was time to kill though, so we went into Yates at Canterbury Village and Michigan Market Place. Both are great for picking up some local finds. We did return to watch some Hot Dog Pig Races. They have both pigs and weiner dogs that race. It’s very cute and entertaining.
Overall we had a great time with some great food. I hope they have it at this location next year.