'Showdown' viewed as success

Flair bartending competition features participants from all over country

December 5, 2005 —

by Brandon Kish

The Tuesday, Nov. 15 crowd at Shooters of Saginaw watches as competitors face off. The flair bartending competition was organized by Flair-Tec, a company owned by SVSU marketing major Ryan Stokes.

by Brandon Kish

Rob Orosz, 27, from San Diego practices juggling before performing in the flair bartending competition. He has been performing for six years.

Your mother always told you not to play with your food. But she never said anything about drinks.

The first ever "Midwest Showdown" took place Tuesday, Nov. 15 at Shooters of Saginaw, featuring over a dozen of the country's best bartenders battling one another in a flair bartending competition for cash prizes. The competition was presented by local company Flair-Tec, owned and operated by SVSU marketing major Ryan Stokes.

At the Showdown, 13 bartenders were given five to six minutes to complete three predetermined drinks. During that time, the bartenders performed various tricks making up a routine judges rate on such criteria as variety, smoothness, difficulty, creativity and crowd participation. Tricks usually range from more common things such as juggling bottles and glasses to stalling-the process of tossing an object in the air and bringing it to a stop on some part of the body.

At the end of the night, a cash prize was even awarded to the bartender with the best stall, where one bartender even tossed a glass into the air and caught it on his head. The eventual winner of the Showdown itself was Grand Rapids native Ralph Buckingham, who took home the $500 first prize. Cash prizes were also awarded for second and third place winners.

"In Saginaw, everyone is complaining about what to do," Stokes said, discussing his reasoning for putting on the event. "This is something that nobody in the Tri-City area has ever seen ... this is something that is totally unique."

While Stokes performs as well, he did not compete in the Showdown, instead spending much of his time trying to ensure his first competition ran smoothly. The event took months of planning and began with Stokes contacting potential backers. He wrote proposals and contacted companies, eventually landing such sponsors as Skyy Vodka, B.E. Arts, RedBull, Finest Call, Sport-Tee and Complete Limo. Stokes credited the sponsors for helping make the show a success.

"Everybody said they had a lot of fun and that they'd come back if I put another one on," he said.

Stokes said he intends to host future shows, already working on events in other area cities and bars. In the meantime, he will continue to focus his attention on Flair-Tec, which he says represents the world of competitive bartending. According to the company's Web site, the purpose of Flair-Tec is to "help promote the sport of flair bartending at all levels in whatever way possible." Stokes said this includes training bartenders or entire staffs, and even performing at weddings and other events.

In the end, Stokes said flair bartending is just plain fun and that anyone can get into it. He became interested in it after seeing several shows in Detroit, Las Vegas, and even on the Food Network. He said one thing good about flair bartending is that people of all shapes and sizes can get involved in the sport and that those who do it are only limited to as much time as they practice.

"I started with a couple of tricks," he said, "and now it's something I love to do."

For more information on Flair-Tec and flair bartending, visit www.flair-tec.com.