Group buying key to raising $697,000 at Sale of Excellence
By BRENDA SOMMER bsommer@leader-news.com

Wharton County Youth Fair board President Darrel Kutach is amazed at the outstanding amount raised during the Sale of Excellence Saturday afternoon.

"How can you describe it?," he asked. "I don't know what word to use - outstanding? We were thinking that with the way the economy is, with the price of fuel, we'd do good to match last year, but everything is above last year except add-ons, which we're taking all week, and I expect them to be above last year."

The Sale of Excellence brought in $697,685 Saturday alone, up from the $609,303 the sale brought in last year. Those figures can rise substantially with "add-ons," additional money sent to the fair to plump up sales figures for the youngsters who sold their animals. For instance, with add-ons, last year's Sale of Excellence brought in $736,813, or an additional $127,510.

The Freezer Sale, in which fair entries not in the Sale of Excellence were sold, garnered $62,240, up from $56,132 brought in last year.

Kutach said one unusual event during the sale stood out as an example of the generosity of the many buyers in the community. A new fair event this season, held Thursday, was called "Tough Enough to Wear Pink?," an event to raise awareness of breast cancer and funds for the Wharton County unit of the American Cancer Society. "Tough Enough" came about after fair employee Cindy Blaha fought a battle with the disease.

In keeping with the theme, Kutach wore a pink cowboy hat throughout most of the fair.

"We had a guy - Jerry Svatek - who thought I should sell the pink hat during the sale," Kutach said. "I said, you get $1,000, you can have the pink hat. (Svatek) just went and asked different groups of buyers, and they all donated $100. Well, he came back with $3,800, and by the time all was said and done, we sold the pink hat for $4,374. Then he gave it to Cindy. It brought tears to my eyes."

The youngsters whose animals and creations were chosen for the sale lined up early to make their way into the hall, hoping to earn as much as possible for their efforts. Animals were decorated with glitter, stickers, paint, leis and even feather boas, while others placed their creative arts, bunnies and even chickens in fancy baskets. Those whose projects were too large - such as pen of three heifers - carried championship banners or items representing their creatures.

Group buying kept prices healthy, with 61 purchasers pooling their resources to spend $18,225 for the Grand Champion Steer "Red," the second Grand Champion Steer shown by 11-year-old Natalie Nohavitza, daughter of Jeff and Susan Nohavitza of Taiton.