The Great American Outdoor Show, held in Harrisburg, PA, February 3-11, 2024, is a highly anticipated event each year for people across the east coast. To launch the Show, The NRA Foundation presented four Pennsylvania groups with grant awards at the Opening Ceremony. These funds were primarily from last year’s Wall of Guns proceeds at the Great American Outdoor Show. The grants were awarded to:
- East Pennsboro Township Police Department received $9,000 for their Taser 7 CEW Transition Continuation project.
- PA Scholastic Clay Target Program-Eastern PA received $10,000 for the 2024 State and National registrations for youth SCTP teams from Eastern PA. It is estimated that 500 students will benefit from the grant!
- Hunters Sharing the Harvest received $5,000 for Eastern Pennsylvania venison donations to feed the hungry. The funds will be used for meat processing. There are no fees charged to the food banks, centers, soup kitchens or shelters that gladly accept the donated venison.
- Dauphin County Sheriff’s Office received $25,000 in grant awards. $15,000 will be going towards their K-9 Program, while $10,000 was awarded for various training supplies. The Dauphin County Sheriff's K-9 program provides support for events at Great American Outdoor Show by conducting explosive detection “sweeps” before events. The K-9 unit is funded solely by donations. The Department now has 37 deputies supporting the County Court system and the approximately 280,000 citizens of Dauphin County to protect and serve!
The NRA Foundation’s crowd favorite fundraiser, the Wall of Guns, was again a great success at the Great American Outdoor Show. This year over 180 lucky winners got to pick their choice of firearm from the Wall. There were over 40 firearms for the picking, with the most popular firearms selected being the Henry Golden Boy .22LR with NRA Logo, Taurus 1911™ 45ACP Mil Spec OD Green .45ACP with NRA Grips, Weatherby Element Bottomland OG 12GA, and the Kimber K6xs .38SPL.
This year, a husband and wife both became lucky winners at the Wall. Larry won on Wednesday, then his wife, Patty, won the very next day. Patty and Larry shared, “The Wall of Guns is amazing, and the money goes to a good cause. We appreciate it. We’re in shock that we both won!” This is the third year they’ve bought tickets at the Wall.
In addition to the Wall of Guns, the Friends of NRA Banquet on Thursday, February 8 had about 250 people in attendance. Attendance grew by twenty-five percent, and the room was bustling during the game and raffle time. Greg Nyce, the NRA Eastern Pennsylvania Field Representative shared, “I would love to thank the volunteers that donated their time to make the 2024 Great American Outdoor Show Friends of NRA Banquet a success. Without them this event could not be possible. I also would like to thank the 13 Board of Directors who were in attendance, along with several NRA officers!”
One attendee, Leslie, ended up having quite a lucky time at the banquet. Not only was it her birthday, but she ended up with a raffle ticket number that had her birthday numbers. From that moment, she had a good feeling. It ended up being a winning ticket!
Vendors from the Great American Outdoor Show were huge supporters of the banquet. The raffle games included ten donated items and the live auction included thirteen donated items from vendors at the show. Friends of NRA and The NRA Foundation are grateful of their support of the future of the shooting sports.
This year, the highlight of the live auction was the 2024 Gun of the Year Set- the Henry Big Boy Revolver .357Mag/.38Spl with the Henry Big Boy Side Gate .357 Mag/.38Spl. Next in line was the Browning Kitchen Knife Set with NRA Coin, also from the 2024 Standard Package. Overall, the banquet achieved the High Caliber Club level status thanks to all the attendees and supporters.
Save the date for next year’s Great American Outdoor Show, February 1-9, 2025 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA!
