Ribs, Rods & Rock ‘n Roll fun, but expensive for college students

This past weekend, dowtown Vermillion hosted its Ribs, Rods, and Rock & Roll event. The rib festival provided food, live music and classical cars for two days downtown.

The two day experience was outstanding, but unfortunately, it wasn’t cheap. Thankfully my mom came with me and was nice enough to cover some of the expense for me.

While there wasn’t an initial gate fee, the cost of food at some of the vendor’s stands was steep. The cost of ribs was consistent among vendors, but by purchasing a half or full rack of ribs, you wouldn’t have the opportunity to sample many of the other food options. In turn, this limited your options for the People’s Choice voting.

We were grateful to find a few of the places offered samples, although it still cost $7-8 for a sample size of three ribs at two places, while one other stand only asked for a donation for a single hot wing.

The other major expense was non-rib foods. I have had a love for deep fried pickles for as long as I can remember. I was startled to find an order of pickle fries, which was not very large to begin with, costing $7, they were delicious.

If it hadn’t been for the local Boy Scouts chapter selling bottled water for $1, I may not have gotten anything to drink while I was there.

Overall, the food was delicious and the groups that played live music did an awesome job. I had a wonderful time.

I think it would be a good idea if USD teamed up with the festival next year to get a discount for students or find a way to make this fun experience a little bit more affordable for us.