by Steven Doyle
The Cattle Baron’s Ball is legendary in these parts and has been raising plenty of dollars for the American Cancer Society. Their single mission is to give cancer a boot, and this year it was a muddy boot. However champagne always tastes better when you are wearing rain trodden Lucchese’s.
As the guests hobnobbed with TV’s Dallas stars Larry Hagman, Brenda Strong and Josh Henderson, they stayed cozy warm under the big white tents adjacent to the Southfork Ranch. They noshed and sipped the night away as they were entertained by this year’s musical guest Blake Shelton. Past entertainment has included such stars as Willy Nelson, Tammy Wynette, and Johnny Cash.
Over $1 million dollars was raised in the single evening with much of the donations coming from luxury auction packages that included a $30,000 shopping spree at the Galleria and a $70,000 party at Eddie Deen’s ranch for 300 guests replete with barbecue and entertainment. The Dallas Barbecue Boys, which includes a half dozen of our best chefs in Dallas, did their annual auction package for a private dinner for 30. Over the years these boys raised over $2 million.
Past Cattle Baron’s have experience the mud and fun side of the event. In 2009 it was estimated nearly 1000 cars were towed from the mud. It is fantastic that Dallas makes lemonade from lemons at this auspicious annual event.
