SOLON — The annual Beef Days weekend is the result of countless hours of labor put in by many, mostly volunteers, who join together to organize, set up, run, and then tear down tents, booths, fencing, and other necessities to make the event a fun, safe, and successful event.
Glen Erenberger and Denise Bruck, Solon Beef Days co-presidents, talked with the Economist about what it takes to put Beef Days together.
“I’ll bet you we have over 100 volunteers,” said Denise, “And the high school students do a really nice job. The different teams and groups really help us out, which is nice because it gets them thinking as they’re getting out on their own that its nice to chip in and help out in your community.”
Much of the heavy lifting began Thursday around 8:00 a.m. for a full day of work, which included putting up the beer tent and setting up the dining and drinking areas and assembling and painting benches to go in front of the bandstand. Cross country athletes helped out in the morning while girls track and field, boys basketball, and girls wrestling worked in the afternoon with the track team painting benches and ticket counters while the boys moved in bales and boards, and tables and chairs inside the tent. “Sunday morning the football team comes and helps with a lot of the tearing down and putting stuff away,” she said adding the city public works employees also do yeoman’s work with the set up and tear down. “They’re really the core for set up and tear down. They know where everything goes for set up, and where it gets put away after the event. We couldn’t do it without them.”
Some of the preparations begin even earlier in the week. On Tuesday, for example, the boys wrestling team was putting up some of the perimeter fencing.
“It takes quite a crew and a bunch of organizations working together to pull this off each year,” she said.
Just down the street, Sam’s Amusements & Carnivals, Inc. from Shawnee, Oklahoma, was assembling their rides and game booths. Sam’s has been a long time fixture for Beef Days. “They’ve been great to work with and have a good crew.”
Outside help, and donations, are also vital. For example, the Ely Volunteer Fire Dept. loans Beef Days a refrigerated trailer, which held the approximately 1,200 steaks for the dinners, 2,000 or so smaller steaks for the sandwiches, as well as the makings for the pork sandwiches, which all comes from Ruzicka’s in Solon while Ferrellgas, in Iowa City, donated all of the propane to fuel the grills.
Members of Solon organizations such as the American Legion Stinocher Post 460, the Solon Optimist Club, the Solon Robotics Club, Scout Troop 120, and the Solon GFWC/Solon Women’s Club also put in many hours setting up their booths and staffing them through the busy weekend.
And, it is not too early to start thinking about next year. Bruck and Erenberger noted while they had a good turnout for help this year, they will gladly accept more volunteers next time.
Workers with Sam’s Amusements & Carnivals, Inc. from Shawnee, Oklahoma set up one of the many games Thursday, July 14 on Main Street while others assembled the various rides making up the Beef Days carnival.