By Dan Shea
SAR West... one of my favorite events of the year. We travel to Phoenix and set up for five days in the sun (we hope) and enjoy the Arizona atmosphere, while surrounded by thousands of tables of firearms related items and tens of thousands of like-minded people. It's a carnival of guns, and the SAR building is dedicated to NFA firearms and black rifle related items, making it a haven for those with this affliction. The NFATCA Saturday meeting is informative and now it's "tradition" to have this gathering. There are shoots and parties that surround the show and people travel from far and wide to see old friends and shop or sell. We're handing this issue out at the show, and the content is tailored to the crowd there. We're all pretty excited about SAR West, and the coming SHOT show in January.
This necessarily brings us to discussions about SAR East in York, PA. We like to have two shows per year and during the 2010 show in York we had been "iffy" about putting on the 2011 show due to health issues in my family and then decided to forge ahead and do it. Then, at the end of the show, a number of our exhibitors and machine gun displayers informed us that the weekend scheduled for 2011 was the same as the NRA Convention in Pittsburgh and they were already booked in there and couldn't attend our show. Much deliberation ensued in the coming months, with Appalachian Promotions trying to change weekends and finally all they could get was the same as Knob Creek weekend - and that doesn't work either of course. So, SAR East in May 2011 is canceled regarding our participation in it. Nonetheless, Appalachian Promotions will be having their gun show with a machine gun theme. Check their website for more information at www.appalachianpromotions.com.
Because we want to present two shows per year, and with some rational exuberance regarding our 14th year in publication, we decided to have another convention in 2011.
Yes, SARCON 2011 is on. Our schedule now is for SARCON to be on 15-17 September 2011. It will be immediately preceded by the SAR Three Gun Match led by The Godfather himself, Tony Dee. Tony is working out whether it will be pistol-subgun-carbine or pistol-subgun-shotgun, and the parameters of the test. He and his wife run a three-gun in the Vegas area and had been heavily involved in the old SOF Convention three-guns.
Highlights of SARCON 2011? Here's the plan: it will be at the Tuscany on Flamingo Avenue, right behind Bally's. Conventioneers should arrive on Wednesday unless they want to do the Three Gun Match, then it would be earlier. Wednesday September 14 will be registration and reception in the evening. Thursday 15 September will be coffee and pastries at a reception in the morning and registration as well - all of this in the exhibit hall. No, we're not having a "gun show"... but we are having an exhibit hall for about 40 booths worth of companies that want to exhibit- and have the live fire demo of their products on Saturday evening at the range. Thursday, Friday and Saturday there are a morning and afternoon session for one of 8 courses, with a long lunch break in the exhibit hall.
The Schedule looks as follows but is subject to change, you can find the final on the SAR website:
Tuesday, 13 September:
SAR Three Gun Match
Wednesday, 14 September:
SAR Three Gun Match
Evening registration and reception at Tuscany
Thursday, 15 September: SARCON 2011
Morning coffee & pastry reception and registration in Exhibit hall
Morning session, 4 courses to choose from
Lunch in exhibit hall
Afternoon session, 4 courses to choose from
Evening hors d'oeuvres beer & wine in Exhibit hall
Friday, 16 September: SARCON 2011
Morning coffee & pastry reception in exhibit hall
Morning session, 4 courses to choose from
Lunch in exhibit hall
Afternoon session, 4 courses to choose from
Evening reception and dinner at LMO - the collection will be open
Saturday, 17 September: SARCON 2011
Morning coffee & pastry reception in exhibit hall
Morning session, 4 courses to choose from
Lunch in exhibit hall
Afternoon session, 4 courses to choose from
Bus to the range for live fire with the manufacturers
BBQ at the range and then a firepower demo
We hope you will consider blocking this off on your calendar. It should be very educational and a heck of a good time as well. We look forward to seeing all our friends there. - Dan
This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V14N4 (January 2011) |
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