Dress code for Ribfest: Practical
Practicality trumps style and comfort when it comes to dressing for Ribfest.
Just ask Ralph Pressy.
Slinging lemonade from an open-air tent at Ribfest in Naperville all day requires a certain wardrobe, and that may cost some style points and be less than comfortable.
"First off, we have to have hats for hair containment, but some of the girls don't like them," he says. "Then we all have matching shirts, and I prefer that they don't wear flip-flops, but they don't have to wear steel-toed boots either. We tell them to wear comfortable shoes because they're on their feet all day."
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It's a pirate-themed performance this year for Forms In Motion acrobats, and director Rob Sokolick admits he didn't put as much thought into comfort as he should have now that he's jumping around outside in the outfits.
"It's always nice to have white and linen," he says. "That's why I chose this outfit and made the other guys wear the other colors. Sometimes it pays to be the boss."
Even those at Ribfest who are there simply to be entertained admit that they chose their ensemble for practical purposes.
Naperville resident Elizabeth Mazur says she based the rest of her outfit around the jaunty powder blue, bell-shaped straw sun hat she was sporting Thursday.
"Oh, I'm being practical, definitely," she explains. "I'm really trying to be careful about the sun."
Cargo shorts may not be as fashionable as they once were, but they're still a staple of the festival circuit. Whether working or partying, the multi-pocketed shorts are about the handiest thing anyone can wear. Zip ties in one pocket, plastic bags in another; napkins and wet wipes in the back left pocket and there's still room for sunscreen, lip balm and a wallet elsewhere.
"I hope they never stop making them," says Dennis Miller, who operates a petting zoo at the festival.
All the rib vendors wear different-colored shirts, but most are dark.
"White is a 10-minute color in this business," says Lee Rice, owner of Cleveland-based Desperado's BBQ Rib Co. "We've found, over the 20 years we've been doing this with a bunch of different colors, that black washes the best and keeps its color longer."
Morton Grove resident Grant Gilbert says the key to festival fashion success is simply checking The Weather Channel.
"I check it everyday," he says. "And today I'm doing pretty good today in pants since it's not too hot."