WE’RE ALL BETTER WHEN WE COME TOGETHER.

Since 2016, Missoula Trap and Skeet Club has hosted our Trap event. There's a lot of pre-planning that goes into our Trap event. The Club is run by volunteers. The men and women at the Club even volunteer during our event scheduled on Saturdays; we can't thank them enough. The volunteers have the venue ready to go for us, and the preparation starts weeks before the event takes place- ensuring we've got clays and shot shells and a good safe environment for us to raise money. When Dan Lyon Sr. comes each year to fire off the family's brass cannon to signify the start of our event, the guys from the club join in on the cheers! After the cannon fires, the Club volunteers organize our annual Annie Oakley shoot. Every participant lines up shoulder to shoulder, and three shooters rack a shell and prepare to fire. The first of the three calls, "Pull." The clay is launched, and the first shooter fires a shot; if shooter #1 misses, shooter #2 takes a shot; if shooter #2 hits the clay, shooter #1 is 'out.' If shooter #2 misses, shooter #3 can knock #2 out. We continue wrapping through the line until one shooter stands as our Annie Oakley winner and splits the pot with the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. By the time we're done at the club, usually around 1 pm, the volunteers help us clean the place up, so we can move on to Golf. For those who are hungry, the Club has a flat top grill and a no-host breakfast is available to anyone who's hungry. It's so great to look down the lines of shooters and see your friends and co-workers enjoying the shoot together.

Since 2018, UM Golf has been our host for the Golf event. Chris Anderson and his crew always have the course ready for us early in the golf season. They let us put 20 teams on the 9-hole course. The Iron Griz caters our event, and makes sure we've got all the beverages we need to have a great time while we play the course. It's an amazing sight when you look around at the teams of firefighters, dispatchers, researchers, incident management team members, and their friends, all of them connecting with each other, laughing at shots that don't go where the golfer thought it should go, and cheering each other on when shots end up where intended. When you're on the course, dodge the golf cart with Burk Minor, the WFF Executive Director, in it. He's out there enjoying himself, connecting with wildland firefighters and their friends, and enjoying a day of laughter and connection; just don't ask him to putt for you. When you show up at the course, you'll see how much Coors' Protect the West campaign is featured. Missoula's local Coors distributor, Summit Beverage, picks up the tab for course rental, putting more money into the WFF and to families. And, Coors supports many WFF fundraising events around the country; we can't thank them enough.

We've found a home for our culminating evening party at the Missoula Brewing Company. WE LOVE IT when the public shows up and participates. The staff at the brewery work with our planning team to implement a wonderful party at which everyone in the community feels welcome; they've got a big job, preparing for hundreds of people showing up on a Saturday night. People will start filing in about 5 pm on the night of the event. The brewery has pizza by the slice and salad available for patrons inside, and lets us park a food truck outside for the hundreds of people who come out to support us along Grant Creek. We'll have silent auction items set up inside, and a live auction under the structure creekside. We've got the best auctioneer in the business, Zane Burns, who really cares about our event; he's an amazing guy, who is such a wonderful entertainer and fundraiser; he's worth the price of (free) admission. Everyone in the community is welcome; you don't have to be a firefighter to participate in our event. We'll pull our winning raffle tickets at Missoula Brewing, and we'll announce the winning teams and individual prize winners from the day's events.