NRA National Firearms Museum Director Jim Supica and Senior Curator Phil Schreier put in an impressive 12 hours of work on Saturday. (Though NRAblog isn't sure this qualifies as work; did you see
the adorable kids that traipsed through the exhibits?) Supica and Schreier, along with coworkers Doug Wicklund, Matt Sharpe, and Benjamin Von Scoyoc decorated the entire National Firearms Museum on Friday. Wicklund was in charge of tear-down on Sunday.
Supica, pictured at left with three Halloween visitors, said the staff's hard work paid off. "One of the reasons we do this holiday-themed event is to promote our Museum to the general public," he told NRAblog. "Of course, we had the typical Saturday visitors, who were unaware of the special event, but they didn't seem to mind the decorations." Or the complimentary candy and donuts.
NRAblog was on hand for the day-long event and witnessed several candy runs. "We definitely would rather have too many treats than too few," Supica said. "Between the edible goodies and the plastic toys, everyone went home with heavy pillow cases and overflowing pumpkin buckets."
One change from last year: more moms and dads donned costumes to accompany their children through the Museum. Top, two couples dressed up to match their Trick or Treater. NRAblog's personal favorite group costume would have to be the homemade garden gnome family, pictured below. "We read up on it, and apparently when female gnomes get married, they have to have braids," Mrs. Gnome told us. "Who knew?"
Supica assures us this event is here to stay. "Some might say we Museum guys have too much fun dressing up," Supica said. "And that may be true. But the community has shown us their willingness to participate, and we're thrilled to get new people in the door to show them what we're all about."