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.