SOLON– Gary and Denise Bentrim were chosen as the 2021 Solon Beef Days Grand Marshals.
The Solon community has been home to Gary and Denise Bentrim for the last 35 years. Denise grew up in Solon and for Gary, when he fell in love with Denise, he fell in love with Solon and they decided the Solon area was where they wanted to live and raise their family. They have three children: Jennifer, and her husband Dan, live in Dubuque and have two grown children, Becca and Brady; Ryan, living in the Solon area; and Tiffany, and her husband Brandon, live in Minneapolis, Minn.
The Bentrims worked tirelessly over the span of several years to help build Solon Beef Days into the leading community event in the area. Gary recalls an invite to a Beef Days meeting from the devoted and now departed community leader Jane Vest, spawning the 20-year long tenure of Gary as the Beef Days president and Denise as the Proud Sponsor chairperson.
Gary, a management professional, envisioned an organization format for Beef Days allowing people to feel invested and contribute to the Beef Days events while having fun at the same time. He helped form several committees, each having a chairperson lead. The committee format is still in place today and is key to the overall success of the Beef Days celebration.
Denise went to work creating a Proud Sponsor program offering the opportunity for local businesses to support the Beef Days event through various sponsor levels. Here again, the idea of community investment worked with grand success and sponsorship has become an essential part of creating an event continuing to grow and thrive, making the third weekend in July in Solon, the best place to be.
Through the years, Gary and Denise liked to visit other community festivals in search of new bands and ideas that would work well for Solon Beef Days. Reviving the car raffle was an idea Gary and Denise had as a salute to the pre-Beef Days event in Solon. The event was called the June Jubilee in the 1960’s- where a new Cadillac was raffled each year.
Asked if they had a favorite part of the celebration, Gary and Denise responded they were most proud of all of the contributions Beef Days is able to return to the community. As a community non-profit organization, the Beef Days Committee returns the annual proceeds back to various community groups and organizations.
Gary retired from software management in 2014 and Denise from Mercy Hospital in 2018. They are enjoying retirement years in Solon, escaping to warmer climates during the cold season.
The Solon Beef Days Committee thanks Gary and Denise Bentrim and their family for their vision, dedication and love of the Solon community and Solon Beef Days.