Patrons line up for barbecue during the Exchange Club of Naperville’s Ribfest in Knoch Park.
Ribfest organizers confirmed Monday the summer celebration is moving to a new venue and an earlier start date.
After 32 years in Naperville and then a pandemic pause, the barbecue and entertainment extravaganza is coming to the DuPage County Fairgrounds in Wheaton over Father’s Day weekend.
Organizers with the Exchange Club of Naperville said the fairgrounds will give patrons plenty of parking and space to enjoy carnival rides, rib vendors, a family fun area and exhibits.
An entertainment site will offer a “lineup of premium artists” each day, the Exchange Club said in a statement. While the headliners haven’t been announced, a proposed layout shows the main stage would be set up on the northern corner of the fairgrounds.
The sizzling news first surfaced when a county board committee last month endorsed the proposal for the fairgrounds to host Ribfest from June 17-20. The four-day festival will now coincide with Juneteenth, a paid state holiday in Illinois.
Up until 2½ years ago, Ribfest was synonymous with the Fourth of July in Naperville. Perhaps no other event embodied the suburban festival more. A winning recipe of barbecue competition, concerts, carnival rides and charitable causes made the grassy lawns of the city’s Knoch Park a carnivore’s playground.
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But park renovations forced organizers to look for another festival home after a final hurrah in Naperville in 2019. COVID-19 derailed what was supposed to be the first Ribfest in Romeoville.
Then last August, the Naperville Park District board of commissioners declined a request from the Exchange Club to have Ribfest return to the city as a two-day event at the Frontier Sports Complex on Naperville’s south side. At the time, park district officials cited wear and tear on the grounds, among other reasons.
But the county complex will provide ample parking, Exchange Club leaders said.
Traffic is expected to enter and exit from County Farm Road through the DuPage government campus to keep cars off residential streets around the fairgrounds. Continuous shuttle service will run from parking areas to the gates.
The county leases the 42-acre property to the nonprofit DuPage County Fair Association.
The civic club has raised more than $18 million through Ribfest for charities supporting survivors of child abuse and domestic violence.
