The Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show was an outdoor

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

exposition held at the

Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center, formerly known as State Farm Show Arena, is a large exhibition center and indoor arena in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It is primarily used for concerts, agricultural exhibitions, the Pennsylvania Far ...

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

which ran annually from 1956 to 2013. It primarily showcased hunting and fishing products, sporting equipment, and services, along with expert advice, seminars, and competition shooting. Often described as the largest show of its kind in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, it included more than 1,000 hunting and fishing related vendors and over 500 outfitters from around the world.

History

The event was originally a six-day event called the "Pennsylvania Recreation and Sportsmen's Show" and was first held in March 1956. In 1962, the show was expanded to eight days and renamed the "Pennsylvania Sports and Outdoor Show".

Cancellation

On January 15, 2013

Reed Exhibitions RELX plc (pronounced "Rel-ex") is a British multinational information and analytics company headquartered in London, England. Its businesses provide scientific, technical and medical information and analytics; legal information and analytics; ...

, the promoter of the show, announced that

modern sporting rifle An AR-15-style rifle is any lightweight semi-automatic rifle based on the Colt AR-15 design. The original ArmaLite AR-15 is a scaled-down derivative of Eugene Stoner's ArmaLite AR-10 design. The then Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation d ...

s (MSRs) and related products would not be permitted at the show. Following the announcement, hundreds of its exhibitors and most of its celebrity speakers cancelled. Following opposition by the

National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...

, and a statement by the

National Shooting Sports Foundation The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is an American national trade association for the firearms industry that is based in Newtown, Connecticut. Formed in 1961, the organization has more than 8,000 members: firearms manufacturers, distri ...

that they would stop co-organizing with Reed for their annual

SHOT Show The SHOT Show , which is an acronym for "Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show", is an American annual trade show for the shooting sports, hunting, outdoor recreations and firearm manufacturing industries. The show is owned and sponsored by ...

, Reed announced the indefinite postponement of the ESOS. Tourism officials for the Hershey and Harrisburg Region of Pennsylvania said that the postponement and eventual cancellation of the ESOS in 2013 resulted in an estimated $80 million loss to the local economy. Officials with the Hershey Harrisburg Regional Visitors Bureau
HHRVB
reported $44 million of that loss was in direct spending from the 1,000 vendors and estimated 250,000 visitors attending the show each year. Regional hotels reported the event accounted for approximately 12,000 room-nights during what was typically a slow period for occupancy. The

(NRA) was chosen over 16 other applicants to replace the show starting in 2014 with a new event at the Farm Show Complex called the

Great American Outdoor Show The Great American Outdoor Show (GAOS) is the world's largest outdoor recreation show and expo which is held annually in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The show, which was first held in 2014, was previously called the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show ...

References

External links

* {{Cite web , url=http://www.easternsportshow.com/, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529232257/http://www.easternsportshow.com/, archivedate=29 May 2013, title =Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show
Great American Outdoor Show
Pennsylvania culture Culture of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Tourist attractions in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Tourist attractions in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania February events Annual events in Pennsylvania Conventions in Pennsylvania