THUNDER BAY — An annual summertime feast is heading to the Thunder City Speedway in August.
The 2026 iteration of Ribfest will be at the speedway in Oliver Paipoonge from August 27 to 30.
“I guess they’ve been looking around town to find other venues to go to, and I guess they weren’t able to lock anything down, and they approached us and asked if they could use the speedway,” Norman Nadin, president of the racing venue, told Newswatch.
Nadin said the speedway thought the four-day event would be a good fit for the facility and perhaps bring new visitors to the dirt track.
For the last several years, Ribfest was located at Marina Park.
When asked if he had any worries hosting the event just outside city limits would deter people from driving out, Nadin said it’s a gamble.
Speedway officials are planning additional attractions to entice people to the event.
While the food vendors will be stationed in the parking lot outside the track area, Nadin said that inside, they want to line the perimeter with classic cars and, on one of the days, have a slingshot car race event for youth to burn some laps.
They’re also planning to set up a stage for live music at the back of the track to “try to make it a little bit of a festival too, so hopefully that’ll attract the people out here,” he added.
This is the first time Thunder City Speedway has hosted a food-inspired event, according to Nadin, but it has hosted monster truck shows and race events in the past, attracting roughly 3,500 to 4,000 people.
However, he said the facility could accommodate up to 8,000 attendees.
“This track’s always been about encouraging families to come out and enjoy and just show another part of Thunder Bay that exists,” he said.
“There’s lots going on out here all the time, so having this festival out here might just open up the people’s eyes that there’s actually a race track out here and come out and enjoy.”
