It’s all about the food and music at the Renzie Rib Fest

Despite a delayed start due to the weather, the Labor Day weekend tradition at Renziehausen Park drew large crowds the last few days for food and music.

Story by MICHAEL VINSICK
mvinsick@yourmvi.com

Photos by Heather Hart / For the MVI

Visitors from McKeesport and surrounding areas enjoyed barbecued ribs and other delicacies at the city’s annual Rib Fest.

Red Barn BBQ, Rogue BBQ, Robbie’s Ribs, Zeus BBQ, Big Girls BBQ and the McKeesport Lions Club showed up to ignite their grills and serve the public barbecued classics.

Rib Fest director Dan Carr stated that the event has been expanding for more than 15 years, with Zeus BBQ as a new vendor and more food options served by the Lions Club. Carr said the Lions Club is known for its hometown cooking, which is why it named its vendor spot Lions Hometown Favorites.

“We do all the fried stations and then the homestyle cooking,” Carr said. “So we have a lot of entertainment from the very beginning. The crowds have been great. We had to postpone it to get a late start, but ever since then, it’s just been nonstop, so everybody seems to be happy.”

Friday’s events had to be canceled due to the weather, so the Rib Fest will continue from 5 to 9 p.m. today, with Beatlemania Magic performing at 7 p.m.

Forest Kovacevic, a McKeesport firefighter, walked with a colleague from the station on 2200 Eden Park Blvd. to get ribs from Rogue BBQ. He stated that he was looking forward to getting good food from an event that brings the community together.

“We’re over here working today, so we figured we’d stop and grab some lunch since it’s coming up on lunchtime, so we’re just looking forward to a good event with a lot of people that have a lot of fun,” Kovacevic said.

Zack Steiner, owner of Rogue BBQ, has been operating the business alongside his wife, Amanda. While Steiner works the grill, his wife runs the front of the house, taking orders and making sure each order reaches the right customer. Steiner began doing the Rib Festival in 2009 and started Rogue BBQ in 2012.

“We have been doing Rib Fest since before we were Rogue BBQ,” he said. “At the golf course that I was at, we came over and started doing these festivals. After two years, we decided to put a barbecue company together and we’ve been here a total of 17 years at Rib Fest.”

Rogue BBQ has a brickand- mortar location in Homestead on the corner of Amity Street and Sixth Avenue and a smaller location inside Kennywood Park.

“People come up here every Labor Day weekend,” Steiner said. “McKeesport is always awesome. A lot of people show up, see the bands, grab some barbecue and hang out. It’s a great weekend. We got some good weather this year.”

West Mifflin resident Stephen Lutka enjoyed the festival alongside his mother, Fran Lutka, and his two favorite vendors are Rogue BBQ and Robbie’s Ribs.

Lutka and his mother have been regular customers of Rogue BBQ for more than a decade, enjoying its barbecue ribs and wings, and have been attending McKeesport’s Rib Festival for just as long.

“Rogue Barbecue started out actually at a golf course in West Mifflin,” Lutka said. “It was one of the prime barbecue places. Now they opened up their own shop in downtown Homestead. The ribs are amazing. The white cheddar mac and cheese is out of this world. “

Then Robbie’s Ribs, they’re the best greens I’ve ever had, and sweet cornbread. You can’t go wrong at all.”

Lutka has been to multiple rib festivals across the region, from McKeesport to Seven Springs, and often does online food reviews.

Wayne Mullin, owner of Zeus BBQ, stated that the mayor had contacted him a week prior on a Sunday to the Rib Festival to be a new vendor there. Zeus BBQ has been in business for three years, and Mullin has found success and the ability to regularly engage with his passion for cooking.

Neighboring venues helped Mullin and his team by explaining how the festival works and what to expect, showing Mullin that the Rib Festival is a gathering that brings the community together.

“This is actually my first year for Rib Fest,” he said. “I’ve been smoking meat for about 35 years. My place of employment had closed, my background was meat and I love to cook, so I just did the barbecue.

“We try to have a traditional barbecue with flavor and affordability for families with the cost of everything being so high. I’m doing what I can to try it. We have good neighbors next to us that explained everything to me, which made it nice, so I knew what to expect.”

Roberta Williams, owner of Robbie’s Ribs, stated that her business’s origins were rooted in community support and encouragement from loved ones and close friends.

Robbie’s Ribs has other options aside from its signature ribs, mainly side dishes such as cornbread, greens and mac and cheese. Robbie’s Ribs has been a vendor at the McKeesport Rib Festival for seven years.

“Everybody likes my ribs,” Williams said. “I said, ‘Well, let me try it.’ I had some people, but they passed away, and my friend said, ‘Oh, you should go. You should get it.’ So I tried it and we’ve been going to it ever since.’” Monday’s performers were This Indecision at 3 p.m. and the Beach Boys tribute band Pet Sounds at 7 p.m.