Photo by Leah Ingram Eagle.
The archery park at Chelsea Community Center, 11101 Chelsea Road, is now open through October.
The first project from Chelsea’s capital budget, a new archery park, was completed just in time for archery season. Opening day was Aug. 24, when Nichols Outfitters teamed up with Liberty Baptist Church to host a 3D Archery Shoot for Kidz Outdoors.
Mayor Tony Picklesimer said the idea for the park came about as the archery program at the community center began gaining momentum.
“I’ve always intended for us to have an archery park modeled after the one at Oak Mountain State Park,” he said. “When we bought that five acres adjoining our existing property at the community center, it was such a perfect place for the archery park and we started working on it.”
Picklesimer said after putting together the plans, the project took several months to complete. It will provide a place to safely shoot a bow and arrow and offers targets of different ranges for different levels of proficiency.
The archery park features three different areas. The first includes straight bag targets that range from 10 to 50 yards. Next, two platforms allow hunters to shoot down into the woods at targets. The last is a tournament range trail in the woods that allows hunters to shoot at 20 different 3D ranges, featuring target stations that simulate actual hunting situations.
Picklesimer said the archery range will also benefit the city from a revenue standpoint.
“People who are serious about archery will travel and look for places to shoot,” he said. “This will also give us a place to host tournaments, which will bring people into Chelsea to spend money at our restaurants and gas stations.”
Bart Pettus, Chelsea’s Parks and Recreation director, said he is excited about the new facility and hopes many people come out and see it. He will team up with archery instructor Phil Carter to manage the range.
“Phil has been a tremendous asset for our archery program in Chelsea,” Pettus said. “We will be able to have classes, as well as camps and tournaments during the year. I am extremely excited to have him and also youth that are interested in archery.”
Carter will offer beginner and intermediate archery classes for ages 9 and up. The fall classes wrap up Oct. 10 and will resume in February or March. The cost is $100 for an eight-week course, which is 16 hour-long classes.
Carter has the archery range signed up with the Bowhunters of Alabama organization and the Archery Shooters Association, which will bring in two tournaments per year with 100-150 people per tournament. He plans to have at least four tournaments per year and add more classes, including some for adults.
“This will draw a lot of people into Chelsea,” Carter said. “This will be the only free 3D commercial range that people can come shoot at in the state of Alabama. The goal is to open it up for more people to see what 3D archery is all about.”
Picklesimer added: “Around the archery world, it’s the newest range. When it opens, people will want to go shoot it.”
Archery season begins Feb. 1 and runs through October. There is no charge to use the facility, but users are encouraged to sign in at the community center. They can also register on the Rec Desk app under the “Programs” tab or at chelsea.recdesk.com.
