WOW...What a Gun Show!

[Colorado Cowboy]

My local shooting club puts on a gun show every year and this years was unbelievable! The show started out small 6 or 7 years ago and has steadily grown in attendance and sellers. A couple of years ago we kinda stumbled on a guy who puts on a regional Safari Club annual event and hired him to do ours.

We now rent the county fairgrounds and is now called a gunshow & sportsman's expo. We sold almost 200 tables, have several outfitters there...some with stock to give kids free horseback ride, a classic car show and rvs, boats and trucks shown on site. Attendance has just exploded! I had a table and sold out yesterday (show closes today). Made almost $1000 and sold NO guns. (last year I cleared $4,000 and sold several guns). We coordinate it with our local NRA Banquet so we really get the best of everything.

Club will probably clear near 20 grand, which will be used for our Jr. Shooting club program and range improvement. It is quite an event. We are getting sellers from Denver, St Lake City, Phoenix and Albq.

It sold lots of stuff I find at yard sales, etc. Made enough to pay for my new lab pup I get the first week of June!

 

[Ikeepitcold]

Very cool CC. Sounds like your club is doing it rite.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Very cool CC. Sounds like your club is doing it rite.

Took a little while to get everybody away from just doing a purely gun show. The best part is that when the word gets around to the venders in their "network" about our huge attendance, more want to come. Kinda snowballs...at least so far. It has really opened up lots of new possibilities for us to help our community and promote our message that guns are not bad. Its a win/win for all of us...hunters, shooter, fisherman, etc!

 

[packmule]

Sounds like it's movin' on up and it's good to get as many vendors involved as possible.


Our local small town ones are pretty small, the only ones with decent turnout are the ones going on dates of the DU & RMEF banquets.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Sounds like it's movin' on up and it's good to get as many vendors involved as possible.


Our local small town ones are pretty small, the only ones with decent turnout are the ones going on dates of the DU & RMEF banquets.

Cortez, where our club is located, has about 8,000 people and our whole county has around 25,000. But our advantage is drawing from Az, NM, Utah and Colorado. Our fairgrounds has rv hookups and lots of the attendees and vendors stay on site. It will be interesting to see what the paid attendance was.

 

[Againstthewind]

Congrats on a good show. Gillette, WY had one this weekend, too. The NRA banquet was last night, too. That sounds like good planning to have them together. That's pretty awesome that you know what to pick through at yard sales to make some profit.

 

[gobindexpe23]

wow... what a gun show. i like this show.. its a great thread. thanks for the sharing this superb information. its really nice thread.i am very interesting to shooting.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

We are already planning for next years event. We have hired a local person with experience doing these type of events and he is on retainer for a year at a time. He always does the SCI yearly fundraiser in the 4 Corners area too. We have had him for the last 2 shows.

 

[Cobbhunts]

some with stock to give kids free horseback rides..... 20 grand, which will be used for our Jr. Shooting club program and range improvement.

That's great your show has grown so well so fast. 2 things caught my attention though. See edited quote above. That's great man, get/keep those kids involved. I get a great deal of personal satisfaction by volunteering as a guide for youth and Wounded Warrior deer hunts that are hosted where I work. There's nothing more gratifying to me that taking these kids and heroes out to the field.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

That's great your show has grown so well so fast. 2 things caught my attention though. See edited quote above. That's great man, get/keep those kids involved. I get a great deal of personal satisfaction by volunteering as a guide for youth and Wounded Warrior deer hunts that are hosted where I work. There's nothing more gratifying to me that taking these kids and heroes out to the field.

We just finished an new addition to our outdoor range. We built a new venue dedicated to junior shooters. It is a regulation 50 yard .22 range. We received grants from the NRA & Colorado Parks & Wildlife that covered 50 % and our club supplied the rest. It is used by our Junior Shooters, 4H, Boy Scouts and Hunter Safety at no charge. We also supply the group insurance. All the funds for our portion come from the gun show and other fund raising such as raffles, etc. We are one of the largest shooting/gun clubs in SW Colorado with 375 to 400 members. Our outdoor range is 400+ acres with pistol, rifle (to 500 yds), dedicated 3 gun & cowboy action ranges and an indoor range & clubhouse. I was President for 3 years. It is a private range and only open to members and guests and special events for the general public. If anyone is down our way and would like to shoot or a tour, let me know.

 

[Againstthewind]

That sounds like a great range. It is really good for kids to have a good place to shoot. Mine loves it, and I think the other kids really do, too. Good job.