Sterling Meat-In Day Surpasses $1 Million Raised Over Six Years

Six years after the Santomaso family turned a statewide "meat-out" proclamation into a community counterstatement, Sterling Meat-In Day crossed $1 million in cumulative contributions, with more than 3,000 attendees filling the Sterling Livestock Commission Company grounds during the week of March 20.

That crowd is 25 percent larger than the 2,400 who showed up to the inaugural 2021 event, which itself raised roughly $130,000 and proved early that Logan County had both the appetite and the organizational muscle to sustain something bigger. Six years and a million dollars later, the question of whether the event had legs is settled.

The 2026 auctioneer contest drew competitors from eight states, with Colonel Kyle Layman of North Platte, Nebraska, taking top honors. Sterling High School senior Ben Walker competed as the youngest contestant, a pairing that captured the event's unusual range: regional professionals and local youth, vying under the same roof. That cross-state draw is what separates Meat-In Day from a local fundraiser and edges it toward regional fixture.

Not every participant traveled far. The J & L Café reportedly closed early so staff could attend, a telling measure of how thoroughly the event has settled into Sterling's civic calendar. Trent Loos, an agricultural columnist who covered the event, called it "a success story."

The contributions flow to area nonprofits, including organizations that support families of servicemembers — charities that run on tight budgets and depend on high-visibility community drives for a significant share of their annual funding. At an average of roughly $167,000 per event over six years, Meat-In Day has become one of the most consistent philanthropic engines in Logan County.

The Santomaso family, operating through the Sterling Livestock Commission Company, built that engine from a single act of civic defiance against a one-day state policy message. What they created in its place now outlasts any proclamation.