HURRICANE – Those in charge of the Southern Utah Shooting Sports Park are looking for volunteers to help with the day-to-day operations of the shooting range in order to keep the club on the rise.
The shooting range, located by the Washington County Fairgrounds off Highway 9, is non-profit organization run completely by volunteers.
“Any money we make we turn into bettering the club,” said park treasurer Sheila Pethoud. “What we need for volunteers is to build a database. We have about five to seven people at a time.”
Pethoud said the duties of the shooting-range volunteers will vary. She said sometimes volunteers are needed to clean the shooting range.
“In Hurricane we get those bad winds,” she said. “Sometimes the course will be covered in trash, and we’ll need to go out there and clean it up.”
Pethoud said other times volunteers are needed keep scores during league events, which volunteers will receive training. The duty could also be for helping the club members and visitors stay comfortable such as working the grill for cooking hamburgers or driving the golf cart around with sodas and snacks.
There are several activities held at the park. Pethoud said Saturday, March 5, will be Member Appreciation Day. She said this is the day where members can come for breakfast and renew their memberships. This is also a chance for visitors to come and see if they want to become members of the club. Memberships are $25, and those who renew their memberships will receive a free shoot.
The sports park is opened to the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and Pethoud said anywhere from 50 to 100 people attend on those days. However, when the weather is bad she said the numbers drop to a handful of people—the “die hards.”
The shooting range offers a variety of different shoots, including sporting clays, skeet shooting, trap shooting and 5 stand.
Pethoud said the most popular event that’s held at the shooting range is the trap shoot. That’s the event where actual leagues are organized.
“We run a trap league every Wednesday,” she said. “We have 45 shooters, and it will go for 10 weeks. Whether teams finish first, second, third or ninth they will get money. Everybody wins something. No matter if it’s raining or snowing—no matter what the weather is we will shoot.”
She also said the league only plays at night under the lights. She said it presents a different kind of challenge.
Pethoud’s husband, Harry, sits on the board of directors, but he’s also the director for skeet and trap shooting. Harry Pethoud said he encourages new people to come out to the shooting range because they’re always looking for new members.
For more information, visit www.utahsportingclays.com.