Fredericton's first-ever RibFest is being hailed as a huge success.

The Fredericton Exhibition says at least 70,000 people came out to try ribs from five professional barbecuers during the event from Thursday through Sunday.

Mike Vokey, the executive director of the Fredericton Exhibition, said the event racked up an estimated $1 million in sales and the barbecuers were overwhelmed by the response.

"They ran out of food on Friday," said Vokey.

"They literally had to buy everything they could find in Fredericton and they had to go back up Saturday."

The success meant they also had to go outside of Fredericton to meet the demand.

"They went as far as Moncton to do the same thing, to buy all the chickens and all the ribs in the area," he said.

"They far exceeded their expectations."

Vokey said they are already planning to expand the event in the future.

"Next year we've talked about bringing either an additional two or as many as five or even more ribbers, so that would mean the lines are divided over 10 instead of five," said Vokey.

"Also they're going to bring more staff so they can do two lines and serve two at once instead of trying to run it through a single line."

The Fredericton Ribfest was the first such event in Atlantic Canada.

Vokey said they will look at expanding it next year to include stops in Saint John, Moncton and Halifax.