Northwest Ohio Rib Off
Lucas County Fairgrounds | July 26-28
The Blade’s 40th annual Northwest Ohio Rib Off presented by Dunn Chevy Buick in Oregon.
Pitmasters from Toledo to Texas will serve up mouth-watering ribs at one of Toledo’s most popular summer events.
Friday, July 26: Noon-11 p.m. | Gin Blossom, Sponge, 8 p.m.
Saturday, July 27: Noon-11 p.m. | Brett Young, 8 p.m.
Sunday, July 28: Noon-7 p.m. | Family Day; Jump, Van Halen tribute band, 5 p.m.
Tickets
General admission on Friday and Saturday, July 26-27, including the concert, is $20 in advance, and $25 at the gate. Limited Advanced Reserved Seating for the concert is $59.50 for Friday and $65 for Saturday. Admission is free from noon-2 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Family Day, Sunday, July 28: Admission is $10 per family and includes games, inflatables, face painting and more, plus the 5 p.m. performance by Jump.
Tickets at Ticketmaster.com and Huntington Center box office.
Gin Blossoms, an American alternative rock band, formed in 1987 in Tempe, Arizona. The band rose to prominence following the 1992 release of its first major label debut album, New Miserable Experience. The first single “Hey Jealousy” became a top-25 hit and went gold. New Miserable Experience went quadruple platinum and had three other charting singles with “Allison Road,” “Until I Fall Away,” and “Found Out About You.” The band’s follow-up album, Congratulations I’m Sorry (1996), went platinum and included the Grammy-nominated “As Long as It Matters” and the top-10 single “Follow You Down.”
Sponge gained international notoriety with their debut album Rotting Piñata. Emerging from Detroit with hits on Billboard’s Modern Rock Charts like “Plowed” and “Molly (16 Candles),” Sponge’s follow-up album Wax Ecstatic scored hits “Wax Ecstatic” and “Have You Seen Mary?”
From his self-titled debut album in 2017, Brett Young has captured the hearts of fans everywhere through his honest lyrics and West Coast-meets-Southern sound, aptly dubbed “Caliville” style. With an impressive string of seven No. 1 hits – “In Case You Didn’t Know,” “Mercy,” “Sleep Without You,” “Like I Loved You,” “Here Tonight,” “Catch,” and “Lady” – and multiple hit albums defined by an undeniable romantic spark, he has cemented his status as a master of matters of the heart. In 2018, Young was named Academy of Country Music’s New Male Artist of the Year. In 2023, he released his fourth studio album, Across the Sheets.