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Dinner Steers Buyers In The Right Direction

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By JASON GEARY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 23, 2008

DADE CITY - Using 60 pounds of charcoal briquettes and some lighter fluid, a massive cooker made from a 500-gallon tank was ignited just a few hours before Thursday night's youth steer sale at the 61st annual Pasco County Fair.

By 5 p.m., hungry customers were entering the dining area. They sat around tables decorated with rustic centerpieces, including cowboy boots filled with flowers and feathers.

"We've got the early birds," said Chet Taylor, a Dade City native and a veterinarian for 22 years.

More steaks were grabbed from white coolers and slapped sizzling on the cooker's racks. A sign nearby proclaimed "Barbequed by Chet the Vet."

The buyers dinner is a tradition. It's a way for sellers to enjoy some precious face time with potential buyers just before the steer sale.

Taylor and his cooking buddies, Chris Blommel and Colby Chandler, went to work amid the screams emanating from a nearby twirling Tilt-A-Whirl and with Justin Timberlake's "Sexyback" blaring from the midway.

Taylor expected to cook about 225 steaks before the meal was through.

"They'll wine them and dine them and, hopefully, they'll go to the barn and buy," Taylor said of the young entrepreneurs and their prospective customers.

Sixteen-year-old Brittany Green of Zephyrhills said she introduced herself to buyers at the dinner and kept checking to see if they needed anything.

"Basically, just schmooze them," she said.

Floating from table to table, Green and other youths lavished attention on buyers.

"Would you like a refill on your drink?" "How about some dessert?"

With full stomachs, buyers wandered over to the Albert A. Barthle Livestock Pavilion to begin the sale.

By Thursday night, Green's steer, Gator, which weighed in at more than 1,200 pounds, fetched $2.20 a pound.

Earl Singletary, chairman of the steer sale, said the event teaches the young participants many valuable lessons.

They spend months caring for their steers and meticulously keeping records. They even learn marketing by writing letters to four buyers.

The pavilion was packed by 7 p.m., with people sitting close together on bleachers and standing near the doorways. Large fans kicked on to circulate air.

The youths proudly walked their steers around the ring, accompanied by the auctioneer's fast-paced mumblings.

Buyers subtly gestured to increase their bids.

A woman noticed that one steer was being stubborn when brought in front of the crowd.

"He knows they are looking at him like he's a steak," she said.

Reporter Jason Geary can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or jgeary@tampatrib.com.

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