Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Colorado Farm Bureau estimated Thanksgiving dinners are more inexpensive in urban areas of the state, but prices in Steamboat Springs are comparable.

"Metro shoppers are enjoying substantial savings as the result of $4 and $5 turkey specials," said Karen Salaz, director of information and media services for the Colorado Farm Bureau. "A turkey dinner in the metro area will cost $24.92, well below the national average. Rural Colorado shoppers are not seeing the same promotions, so their dinner will cost $40.32."

But in Steamboat Springs, shoppers are seeing the same types of deals as metro shoppers.

Safeway has small turkeys, less than 16 pounds, for $4 and large turkeys, more than 16 pounds, for $5, Safeway store manager Bill Solinger said.

At his store, the cost of a complete Thanksgiving dinner for a family is reasonable, Solinger said.

"You would get it all done, if you wanted to be cost-effective, for around $20," he said.

That's buying bargain stuffing, canned cranberries, a bag of potatoes and making your own gravy, he said.

"Thanksgiving dinners are affordable," City Market store manager Eric Widner said.

Turkeys at his store are running between $12 and $24, depending on the size. However, shoppers who buy $100 worth of groceries at City Market get a free bird.

Metro and local prices are below the national average, according to a survey done by the American Farm Bureau Federation.

In its annual survey of the price of basic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table, the national average cost of this year's feast for 10 is $32.37, a $1.46 drop from last year's $33.83 average.

It marks the first drop in average price for the Thanksgiving Day dinner since 1991.

The holiday feast includes turkey, cranberries, pumpkin pie and all the trimmings.

The average cost of a 16-pound turkey, at $12.52, or roughly 78 cents per pound, was the largest contributor to the overall drop in the cost of Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey prices dropped $1.71 from last year's average, according to the survey.

Farm Bureau officials see the drop in dinner costs a reflection of large supplies in all commodities.

"There is typically a lag between consumer prices and what the farmers have been seeing," Joe Miller, an economist with AFBF, said in a press release. "We've seen low prices at the farm level for two or three years now. Those dropping prices are just now starting to reach the retail level.

"What we are also seeing is a fairly large supply of pretty much every commodity produced in this country. It doesn't matter which commodity you talk about. Almost all have low prices, from cranberries to turkeys to grains. Just about everything has low prices."

To reach Doug Crowl call 871-4206 or e-mail dcrowl@amigo.net