Banquet History

In 1947 a small group of Ferrous Scrap Processors from the St Louis Metropolitan area decided to have a dinner party and invite several procurement officers from the local steel mills. The intent was to have an opportunity to get to know these people better and improve their relationships with the local steel mills. The evening was a great success and therefore it was decided to make this an annual event. Over the years the size and scope of this event continued to grow, eventually encompassing all major nonferrous and ferrous consumers as well.

In the 1970s the banquet had grown to over 250 people and was moved to the Marriott Airport Hotel to accommodate the ever growing number of out of town guests. By the early 1990's the Mid-America Chapter's Consumers Banquet had grown to over 500 guests and no longer could be accommodated by the Airport Marriott. After one brief event at the Stouffers Concourse Hotel, the banquet was moved to its current home at the Marriott at St Louis Union Station where it has been hosted for the past several years. In 2008 more than 1000 guests representing 38 states and four countries attended this event making the Consumers Banquet one of the largest and most popular single events in ISRI.