‘Pretty Salty’: Northern Rockies Tourism and Events to host its own Ribfest – Fort Nelson style

FORT NELSON, B.C. — The cancellation of this summer’s Ribfest stop in Fort Nelson hasn’t stopped members of its tourism society from putting together its own summertime festival celebrating the grill.

Entitled the Northern Lights Flaming Grill Fest, the event will take place in late August, turning what could be a negative into a positive.

Brenda Enax is the executive director of the Northern Rockies Tourism And Events Society – and wanted to bring Ribfest to the far north after experiencing the event in Fort St. John.

“One of the other board members, my daughter and I went to Fort St. John [for contact information],” said Enax to Energeticcity.ca. “It seems like so much stops in Fort St. John, but Fort Nelson, we are four hours away.”

“We got the contact and I called a few times. I begged and pleaded. The first year we were able to convince them to come, we had to pay a good amount of money to get them to come up here, to prove it was worth the four-hour drive.”

A stop on the Western Canadian Ribfest Tour for the past two years, Enax said tour management had assured her of a date of August 14th to 16th, 2026 in the winter.

While management did say they would “have to change the dates,” there were no further details related to Enax. She was left unaware prior management had sold their interests in the tour.

It was after several emails went unanswered and the final poster – which assured events in Tumbler Ridge and Fort St. John still happening – did Enax discover the snub.

“I emailed probably close to a half a dozen times,” said Enax. “[I asked] ‘do we have a finalized date?’ [with] no response. We were busy with other events, so in between everything, I’d shoot an email once in a while, and [got] nothing. Until I saw a post without us and Dawson Creek.”

“We were pretty salty. [It] was very unprofessional to leave us hanging like that when anybody involved in an event like this knows the work that goes into it. We are a little not-for-profit trying to help other groups in our community. [We were] hoping to draw a little more tourism into our area. It was pretty crazy.”

For the Northern Lights Flaming Grill Fest, Enax told Energeticcity.ca the first year will be of a small scale, featuring local vendors, music, and some cultural demonstrations such as handgames.

Enax added if successful, she could invite businesses from other parts of the peace and northern Rockies regions to participate.

“We are going to strictly keep it local,” said Enax. “It will be a barbecue vendor food event with entertainment. [The society] decided let’s do the inaugural year, keep it local and let’s see how it goes. We figured if we can do it with their two trucks, we can do it on our own.”

Northern Lights Flaming Grill Fest will happen on Saturday, August 22nd and Sunday, August 23rd, with further details being released soon.

Visit the Northern Rockies Tourism and Events’ society’s Facebook page for more information.