by James C. Fulmer | Past President, NMLRA
Left, Past President NMLRA Becky Waterman picking a prize with author,
January is the first month of the new year on the Gregorian calendar, which is used all over the world. The month is named for the Roman god Janus. In Roman mythology, Janus was a god with two faces that looked in opposite directions. One face looked to the past, and the other looked into the future. Janus served as a god of gates and doors, entrances, and exits. His name comes from the Latin word janua, meaning gate. January is the month when many muzzleloading clubs will start making plans for the next year’s shooting season. This month is when many will look back on the events of last year and try to improve on events for the new year.
Each successful gun club, either modern or muzzleloading, has to go through the process even when an event is a success. January is the perfect month for the officers of the club to get together when the Holidays and most hunting seasons and other distractions are over for the year. Planning is everything and the larger the event the farther ahead you have to plan.
Left, K.C. Bennett being congratulated by Captain of Camp right.
What makes a successful event is getting the word out by advertising either in publications, internet, or fliers, but the very best is word of mouth. It’s the best because nothing sells anything better than having a friend or an acquaintance telling you how good an event is that he has attended and that you should attend as well.
The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association’s 18th Century Rifle Frolic and Market Faire which took place October 6-8 2017, was already in the planning stages for the October 5-7, 2018, before the last event was over. Success doesn’t come by accident; it takes the passion of many people to make any event happen and be successful. The staff of the 2017 event is what made it successful: Chuck Zigler, Chief Range Officer; Jerry Hiester, Woodswalk Captain; Paul Smeltz, Archery Captain; Daune Miller, Knife and Tomahawk Captain; Mike Wegert; Chief Scorer; Ron and Sue Youn, Gate Captains; and Curt Fulmer and Wes Greist, Captains of Iron Valley. Clyde and Kathy Fisher from Vermont, Becky Waterman, and Mike Pullins, both from Ohio, traveled all the way in and donated their time to fill in so many spots. Dale Clemons, Alan Housknect, Craig Hattler, Tim Bottenfield, and of course my wife, Linda, plus many, many more people made this event a happening success.
The commitment and passion of these people is what make this event and many others happen. All of these people are involved with many other events that they willingly give up their shooting time to run ranges, score targets, register people, but why? They have the passion and desire to make our sport grow. Volunteers are the heart of all events and January isn’t too early to start asking for help for your event. I can’t thank all of the volunteers enough who make this event happen; we can always use more.
Michael Beliveau probably has done as much as anybody to make this event a success and has sold me on the power of YouTube. If you go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIxrLnlgU8I, you will see a great video of the 2017 NMLRA Rifle Frolic and Marketfaire that Mike made. This was the fifth year of this event and you can see all five years of the event on you-tube. If your club has anybody who is computer savvy, have them do a face book page to put your events on. People have shown up at this event just because they searched “Pennsylvania Living History Events October” and the event came up on the internet.
Mike Wengert, Chief Score.
Sponsorship of the event through donations of products from businesses that the participants use is a big help. I have been running shooting competitions for 40 years. The problem I don’t want to get caught up in is not enough prizes to attract shooters, not enough shooters to afford the prizes. What I have learned over the years that attracts shooters more than prizes is the shooting has to be fun. Iron targets are great to attract a new shooter because they just missed the iron target while with paper you can see the shot was off six inches at 25 yards.
Another that is fun and attracts new shooters is the table shoots. One of the most popular matches we shoot is a three shot match with the closest single shot to the x center off the table rest at 20 yards. It is not uncommon to see an expert shooter shoot and not get a center shot while a novice shoots two shots three inches off center and his third shot looks like the black dot in the center of a rifle scope. Closest single shot to center wins. Prizes are important, but having fun while competing for them is more important. The shooter that loses will judge his experience by how much range time and how many shots he was able to fire for the price he paid in entry fees. Also the more places you give a prize to in a match, the better the match.
To get prizes for an event, the earlier you get started gathering them the better off you are and starting in January is part of the answer. You can buy a lot of items on sale in January that can be used for shooting matches you hold in the summer. Also starting a raffle or a fund raiser now will give time to earn money for prizes for the event. I have found most businesses are more willing to donate if you buy something from them for your event. When looking for donations start early; for some companies January is already too late; their budget is made out a year in advance.
Time is always an enemy of an event and planning requires time. Plan early and look back at last year’s events to correct any mistakes and make sure what you did that was successful happens again.
Remember: “Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.” (source unknown)
