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Tatertown Special’s 49th Event Was a Success

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Gleason, Tennessee, a.k.a Tatertown, USA was a busy place as the Gleason Gazelles and the Gleason Community during the 49th Annual Tatertown Special. The 2022 grand marshal was Steele Plant Company owners Ken and Valerie Sanders and Larry and Kay Hudson. They were recognized Saturday, August 27 for their unselfish service to the Gleason Community.
 
They were featured in the Saturday morning parade with their families. 
 
The business is in its third generation, starting with Claude Steele.
 
Sunday, August 28, starts the week-long festivities with a Night of Worship. This worship eventwas hosted by area churches and featured the Bethel Renaissance Choir. The performance is at the Gleason First Baptist Church, beginning at 6 p.m.
 
The 2022 Tatertown Block Party, titled “Superheroes”, was Monday night, in downtown Gleason. There will be a DJ blasting music from 6 p.m. until dark. Activities include a sidewalk chalk art contest, train rides, firetruck rides, a costume contest and more. Several food trucks will be in attendance so come hungry.
 
On Wednesday night there was youth bingo followed by adult bingo on Thursday Night.
 
The Community BBQ was Friday evening, September 2 at the Gazelle Grounds. The band Flashback performed for the evening.
 
The annual JC Carey 5K was Saturday morning. The Junior Parade and the Grand Parade started at 10 a.m., followed by activities on the Gazelle Grounds. Activities included Arts & Crafts, live entertainment by the Jordan Skoda Band, food and fellowship, and much more.
 
The week’s festivities concluded Sunday, September 4 with a community-wide Worship Service.
 
About Steele Plant Company
In 1950, Claude Steele (1904-1983) began a produce business that transported peaches, apples, and other crops by truck across numerous states. His business grew rapidly when he added sweet potatoes. Three years later his son-in-law, Dudley “Butch” Sanders (1927-1990) joined the produce business. Dudley worked as a teacher and coach while moonlighting with his father-in-law to supplement his income.
They continued their regular line of work for much of the year, but in the spring months, they focused on sweet potatoes. Before too long, the Steele Plant Company became the largest sweet potato dealer in Tennessee.
In 1974, the Steele-Sanders family decided to begin working with Bart Brown of Omaha Plant Farms in Omaha, Texas. Steele Plant Company was acquired to drop ship sweet potato plants for Brown’s company, soon other vendors were requesting the service of the Gleason business.
Dudley and his wife, Martha (1927-2011), had two children, Ken and Kay, both of which joined in the family business. Ken and his wife, Valerie, along with Kay and her husband, Larry Hudson, currently serve as partners. Ken started full-time in 1979 and Larry joined in 1981. The current education of the family partnership is not that of a usual farming family. Ken has an engineering degree from UT Martin, Valerie has a liberal arts degree from Freed-Hardeman University, Kay has an English degree from UT Martin and Larry has an animal science degree from UT Martin.
A transition was made from focusing on raising the potatoes themselves to raising the plants for families and businesses around the country. The business has grown from a small patch of land on Gibbs Road to the 135-acre Albert Wright Farm, purchased in 2009. The current location cultivates sweet potatoes on a thirty-five-acre annual crop rotation.
Steele Plant Company ships upwards of nearly 4.5 million plants a year from their downtown location. They process between 40 and 45 thousand orders a year, mostly to individuals buying a few dozen plants, shipping all 50 states and occasionally to overseas customers.