Combine a warm late summer day and 625 racks of ribs and you couldn’t ask for better conditions for the Minnesota Building Trades Ribfest. Now in its fourth year, the Ribfest is a competition amongst trades unions and their affiliates to cook up the best ribs possible with the proceeds going to Beyond the Yellow Ribbon (BYR), an organization that acts as a corporate support network to meet the needs of Minnesota military veterans and their families. The funds can be applied to the family of our servicemen and women to cover a variety of expenses or incidentals. No need is too small for BYR to address.

Thirty-six teams competed this year, up from 26 teams last. Those 625 racks of ribs were high quality meat, which accounts for their being completely sold out. They were provided by the Hormel Foods Corp. in Austin, MN., cut fresh and shipped to a refrigerated holding in Eagan the Thursday before the event. They were never frozen along the way to their arrival at Ribfest Saturday morning. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz addresses the opening of the Third annual Minnesota Building Trades Yellow Ribbon RibFest at the Minnesota National Guard Readiness Center in Arden Hills, Minn.

“It takes a ton of work to do, but in the end it’s all worth it,” former Minnesota Building Trades president Jow Fowler said. “It’s great to have the resources to help our veterans and their families when guard duty calls.”

Here’s a list of this year’s winners:

Ribs

  1. Painted & Glazed
  2. Whitewater BBQ
  3. Sieben Carey Electrified BBQ

Chicken

  1. Big Ash Racks
  2. Team Nobody
  3. Smoked to Spec

People’s Choice

  1. Union BBQ
  2. Watts Cooking
  3. Heat & Meat Sizzlers

Reserve Grand Champion – Team Nobody

Grand Champion – Big Ash Racks

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