P. Graham Dunn: NE Ohio Sportsman Show at P. Graham Dunn

The weekend of January 25/26, 2008 was a date that may be remembered as the beginning of the future for the town of Dalton, Ohio. The Northeast Ohio Sportsman Show was held in the new P. Graham Dunn manufacturing facility. There were over 150 booths on the north side of the shop floor demonstrating all sorts of hunting, fishing and outdoor apparel items. Large taxidermy displays and hunting lodges from Maine into Canada were represented. On the south side was a large food court with seating for 1000+ patrons and a stage for the Saturday night Larry Gatlin concert. There were nine buses shuttling patrons from parking locations in Dalton, Kidron and Highway 30. The parking lot on site held approximately 2500 vehicles and there were upwards of 15,000+ attendees for the two days.

Over-looking all this was the new P. Graham Dunn Gallery ready for its first day of business. It was beautifully decorated, all stocked and ready to go. However, that did not happen overnight. There were many months of planning every detail, then weeks of implementing those plans. All of the fixtures you will see were manufactured at our plant on Zuercher road, taken to the new building and assembled and finished on site. The decorating and stocking was planned and coordinated by Emily Fielitz. Emily put in many long days and hours right up until midnight the 24th making sure everything was in place. Many many others also worked hard getting the showroom ready for the crowds that did arrive on Friday morning.

The whole event was enthusiastically praised by all, the show sponsors, the vendors, and the happy outdoors enthusiast that attended the show. A large number of the attendees came upstairs to see what was this building all about and were very pleased. They enjoyed getting items personalized while the waited, knives were the big item of the day. A lot of favorable comments about the beauty of the products, the fixtures, and the overall facility. Most had no idea what was going on inside of the huge red roof building they have been seeing under construction for the last 8 months. Many commented they had to come back with their spouses, families and friends to share what they had discovered.