By Peggy Tartaro,
Executive Editor

The Hollywood Celebrity Shoot returns for its eighth year with a three-day event June 9-11 in Las Vegas. The event, which benefits the Celebrity Youth Sporting Trust, a new group dedicated to firearm education and safety for youths, will be held for the first time at the Desert Lake Country Club in Boulder City.

"We had seven very successful years in the Los Angeles area and we felt that it was time to take our event and its very important messages about education and safety to another key mecca of entertainment, Las Vegas," said event executive producer John Laughlin. "The Desert Lake Country Club is a first class professional shooting venue and tremendous supporter of our event. Its proximity to Las Vegas made it an ideal site for this year's event.

"The purpose of the Hollywood Celebrity Shoot is to preserve the shooting and hunting traditions of America for our children and generations to come by creating awareness and providing safety and training education," added Laughlin. "Through this event we hope to steer popular public opinion to a better understanding of the positive aspects of responsible firearms use, including recreational shooting."

The Hollywood Celebrity Shoot features more than 100 actors, directors, producers, Hollywood insiders and stars from the professional sports world participating in team trap, sporting clays, handgun and rifle events. What makes the Hollywood Celebrity Shoot such a unique experience is that anyone can participate and compete alongside the celebrities. "You can arrive as a spectator and leave having been a competitor," said Laughlin.

Past celebrity guest and competitors have included: Delta Burke, Erik Estrada, Joe Mantegna, Gerald McRaney, Ron Perlman, Martin Kove, Joe Penny, Priscilla Barnes, Dennis Franz, Lou Ferrigno, Erin Gray, Lee Horsley, Geoffrey Lewis, Anne Lockhart, John Milius, Jameson Parker, John Ratzenberger and past W&G cover girls Leslie Easterbrook, Louise Mandrell and Lee Purcell. There are already over 60 celebrities confirmed for this year's event.

"The 2003 Hollywood Celebrity Shoot just keeps growing. It attracted a total attendance of more than 1000 spectators and participants hailing from 30 U.S. states and 15 foreign countries," said Laughlin, who said, that's a 20% increase from 2002 and a more than 50% increase from 2001.

This year's Hollywood Celebrity Shoot will also benefit the newly-formed Celebrity Youth Sporting Trust, an organization dedicated to youth firearm education and safety. The Trust will provide extensive educational programming, an introduction to the shooting sports and the preservation of our shooting and hunting traditions through wildlife management and conservation courses. With its newly established Board of Trustees, the Celebrity Youth Sporting Trust will establish grants to be awarded to existing organizations and begin implementing educational camps nationwide in 2005.

"We've made some amazing strides over the past two years and we plan on using that momentum to take us to a whole new level this year in terms of more sponsors, more celebrities and more spectators," said Laughlin. "In 2003, we estimate that more than 80 million people learned about our event via the 21 magazine articles and 4 television programs that covered us."

The 2004 edition of the Hollywood Celebrity Shoot will feature two days of shooting, (primarily shotgunning, but also non-competitive rifle and handgun events), Lewis Class scoring, an auction (featuring over 60 guns and many other items) and awards banquet.

Registration is $500 for shooters and $250 for non-shooters. Fee includes auction and awards banquets, lunches, and where applicable, competition, shells and targets. Ceasar's Palace will be the host hotel for the event.

For more information: Celebrity Productions Inc.,PO Box 6061-652, Dept. WG, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413. Phone: 818-995-7456; on the web at: Hollywoodcelebrityshoot.net