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ALACHUA – Jim Handley, Executive Vice President of the Florida Cattlemen’s Association, will be the keynote speaker at the Alachua Lions Club’s 75th Annual Cattlemen’s Banquet on Thursday, March 27, in Alachua. This popular event, the longest running, continuous Lions fundraiser in Florida, will move to a new and larger venue this year, Santa Fe River Ranch, to accommodate the nearly 400 attendees expected. Other new features this year include a social hour from 6 p.m. - 7 p.m., a live and a silent auction and corporate sponsorship tables. Live musical entertainment, then a traditional beef steak dinner and dessert bar will also be provided.

Jim Handley, fourth generation native Floridian from the Central Florida community of Sebring, Fla., currently serves as the Executive Vice President of the Florida Cattlemen’s Association, Chief Executive Officer of the Florida Beef Council, Editor of the Florida Cattleman and Livestock Journal and Executive Director of the Florida Cattlemen’s Foundation. The headquarters office of these organizations is located in Kissimmee, Fla.

J.K. “Buddy” Irby will be the Master of Ceremonies. Irby is the Clerk of the Circuit Court and has served the people of Alachua County and the state in various capacities for 37 years. He is a graduate of Santa Fe High School and the University of Florida. Both his father and grandfather were long-time members of the Alachua Lions Club. Past speakers have included President Jimmy Carter, Florida Governors Bob Graham, Buddy MacKay, Lawton Chiles, Bob Martinez and Claude Kirk, U.S. Senator George Smathers, Congressman Cliff Stearns, Congressman Ted Yoho, and Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam. Lion Tommy Harris is chair of the Cattlemen’s Banquet.

Money raised by the Alachua Lions Club supports eye surgery, eyeglasses, and hearing aids for those in need, Alachua recreation programs, Alachua Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts, an early college scholarship program for a Santa Fe High School student, Food for Kids of Alachua program and tutoring of students at Alachua Elementary School. The Alachua Lions Charitable Foundation supports the work of the Alachua Lions Club.

For ticket information contact any Alachua Lion or call Lion Gunter Hirsch at 386-462-3702 or 352-538-9709. For program ads call Lion Gary Hardacre at 386-462-4582 or 352-214-2452. Ad deadline is March 1.

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