The Garden City Telegram
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Free steaks draw crowd
Published 5/28/2009 in Beef Empire Days-Food
By SHAJIA AHMAD
Among the men donning spurs and suede and leather boots, a pair of scrub-wearing health workers chomped on their free steaks under the afternoon sun.
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Brad Nading/Telegram — Wally Stimpert, right, applies a garlic pepper seasoning to steaks as he and Jim Bell grill Wednesday during the Beef Empire Days Roto-Mix Cattlemen's Steak Cookout under the grandstands at the Finney County Fairgrounds.
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Brad Nading/Telegram — Picnic table seating for the Beef Empire Days Roto-Mix cattlemen's Steak Cookout filled quickly under the grandstands, forcing many of those attending the Wednesday event to dine while sitting in the grandstands at the Finney county Fairgrounds.
"I guess we left our cowboy boots in the car," Mireya Montoya, a Finney County Health Department employee, said and laughed.
Montoya and her co-worker, Patricia Servantez, were served their free meals by volunteers who grilled and distributed 550 sizzling slabs of steak during Wednesday's Roto-Mix Cattlemen's Steak Cookout at the Finney County Fairgrounds.
Roto-Mix, based in Dodge City, has sponsored and held the cookout for more than a decade to kick off Beef Empire Days, said business owner Rod Neier.
"This is just our way to say thank you to our customers," Neier said, pointing to the feed yard managers, truck drivers, cattle owners and other cattle industry employees enjoying their steaks under the fairgrounds' grandstand.
It's also a way for Roto-Mix to support the three-week-long beef and cattle celebration and advertise its products — livestock feeding equipment and manure spreaders — Neier added.
Sublette resident Brad Walters, an employee of Nova Microbial Technologies, said he's been enjoying the steaks for 13 years, as he chomped on his second helping.
"This just tastes great," Walters said. "The only thing I miss is the roasted chilies -- they use to have these roasted chili peppers they'd serve with the steaks back when it first started."
The 14-ounce choice steaks came from Kirby Meat Co. in Dodge City, and were served with Angus Snyder's baked beans, potato rolls and iced tea. Roto-Mix employees grilled about 450 pounds of the beef on two six-foot long grills and garnished the meat with butter and garlic pepper.
Roto-Mix officials said they spend about $5,000 on the cookout: The meat costs about $4,000 and at least $82 is spent on additional spices and ingredients for Angus Snyder's Beans, which include brown sugar, jalapenos and onions.
The cookout is open to the general public and meals are served on a first-come, first-served basis.
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