Over the weekend, I have heard from a number of industry people familiar with the event and have basically heard the same story, that the steel shot requirement is mostly a major – some might say epic - corporate screw up on the part of the Merrill Trust Communities & Resorts, which is the developer of Foxhall. Here is the story as I’ve heard it:
Originally a $20 million equestrian facility, resort developer Merrill bought the property in 2005 and got it approved for development in 2009. Everyone says Foxhall is a spectacular, no expense spared facility and should be perfect for a game fair. While the sporting club offers memberships, it’s not primarily a sporting venue, it’s an 1100 acre, billion dollar, planned 900 home, 900 hotel room development near downtown Atlanta which is using the sporting lifestyle as a magnet to attract well healed Atlanta residents to build expensive new homes. It’s a tremendously ambitious project given the current real estate and resort markets.
Think of it as similar to a home and resort development built around a TPC golf course. Just as nongolfers are drawn to a prestigious golf course development, a lot of people are drawn to living an upscale English style sporting lifestyle, even if they seldom participate in it.
In January 2010, Foxhall announced plans to build a high end English-style “British Shooting Grounds” to be designed by Chris Batha. (see press release link below). This would have been a centerpiece of the new game fair. Unfortunately, it seems the company official assigned to oversee the project was unfamiliar and possibly uninterested in shooting, and for whatever reason, the project appears to have been dropped and Chris Batha has not been involved for some time.
The original plans were for a traditional sporting clays course and instruction facility aimed at attracting fine gun enthusiasts who would blend into a community of exclusive homes. The clays course designers and the real estate developers disagreed on the location of a new course. The developers wanted a location in a low area close to the river, which the course designers warned might run afoul of the EPA and necessitate steel shot, ruining the objective of attracting upscale gun owners. Instead of accepting the advice of the designers to build at a more suitable location on the property, the real estate developers hired another course designer to build the course where they wanted it near the water and implemented the steel shot requirement.
The “green certification” justification for steel shot looks like a CYA move dreamed up in the PR shop to cover up the fact that they put the course in the wrong place. The certification is granted by the National Association of Home Builders, not an environmental agency. It appears to have nothing to do with the clays course. As often happens when the PR folks don’t know their audience, the “green” justification for steel shot has inflamed, rather than placated critics and drug the sponsors into the lead vs. steel shot controversy. Perhaps they had the green argument ready for criticism from environmentalists and PETA types, and didn’t understand they couldn’t use it on gun owners.
As a result of this, the steel mandate is in place for this year and the shooting portion of the game fair is basically worthless. The high end gun vendors are unhappy. While they still expect a lot of new potential customers and collectors to come to the event, the shooting portion is not what they expected and is obviously less of a draw for fine gun enthusiasts. The bigger vendors are also unhappy that they will either have to miss the Vintage Cup or split their stock between both events. SCI and Quail Unlimited have egg on their face and have been put on the wrong side of the lead shot debate. And the Vintage Cup has been stabbed in the back to top it all off.
Most everyone seems to think that in spite of the wasted opportunity with the clays course, the event will still attract a large crowd, even if the 30K attendees estimate put forth by the organizers seems overly optimistic. There’s still a lot to see and do at the event, even if people can’t shoot. Some suspect September Atlanta weather might not be the best for shooting anyway.
A U.S. Game Fair has the potential to be a great event. I still say its up to Safari Club and Quail Unlimited to fix the shooting problem at Foxhall, or find a more suitable venue for next year, as the event has their name on it. Also, as this is a new event, the organizers need to be sensitive to shooters and vendors and look for a date that doesn’t conflict with other major shooting events. That can’t always happen, but its obviously in everyone's interest to do so.
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Foxhall Press Release: International Senior Shooting Instructor Chris Batha Joins Foxhall Resort and Sporting Club Outside Atlanta
http://writewellmedia.wordpress.com/2010...utside-atlanta/
