By Eric Albrecht

Jamboree Co-Chairman

Every year on the first weekend in August, NBA members congregate in the Nebraska National Forest for a weekend of fun and hardcore bow shooting. The event this year will run from Thursday, August 3rd to Sunday, August 6th.

We will have a registration table set up from Thursday through Saturday at the main picnic area. Please stop in when you arrive at the forest and sign in. Our volunteers will be happy to help you get signed in, hand you your registration button, and answer any questions you may have. The registration cost this year is going to be a $30 flat rate for families and individual shooters. We have decided to change it up from the past due to the confusion and misunderstandings that have come from having two different registration costs. This year the cost to register will be $30 whether it is a family of five or one individual shooter, and whether it is for four days or one day of shooting, it is a flat rate. The registration cost covers the unlimited shooting at the 3D Ranges. It also includes the Saturday evening BBQ dinner and Kids’ activities. It does NOT include membership dues, camping, novelty shoot costs, or any activities paid to the forest

This is a MEMBERS ONLY event. If you are not a current NBA Member or your membership has expired, you need to join or renew. You can do that on our website or at the Jamboree Registration table.

During the event, we will have our amazing 3D archery ranges set up. On top of that, we will have competition shoots Friday and Saturday. At these novelty

shoots, you can test your skills and compete against other skilled archers for your chance at winning a medal at our Saturday night awards BBQ.

When you want to rest your arms from all that shooting, there are a variety of things to do throughout the forest. Hiking trails and a fishing pond are some of our favorite attractions. There is poison ivy throughout the forest, so you may want to brush up on your plant ID skills. Located in the heart of the forest is the Middle Loup River which offers attendees a great area to go cool off in the heat of the day. You will find a lot of NBA members down in the river enjoying the water, good conversation, and an ice-cold beverage. Once again, the State meeting this year will be held Friday at 11:00 am.

This year there will be a couple of changes we want to make everyone aware of. Sadly, as we all know by now the damage to the forest and 4h buildings this past fall have caused us to have to scale back on some of our extra activities. As I write this article we are still unsure as to where our ranges will officially be in the forest. We are working with the forest service to find the best places to set them up and closer to the jamboree we will be making trips out there with the rangemaster to go through certain locations and find where we can set up. It is possible they will be in the same locations they normally are but we do not feel confident enough yet to put the information in this newsletter. Please check in at registration during the event and there will be maps and people there to inform all of you as to where everything is located. Also, the lookout tower, the 4h building, zip line, and water slides are all no longer there and obviously will not be part of the Jamboree schedule this year.

The Barnes family has generously offered us the use of their land to set up our novelty shoots and anything else we may want to set up there. The kids’ range will also have to be moved from the 4H grounds to another location so please look for the information for that at the registration tent as well.

Family fun night will still happen on Thursday evening at the main picnic shelter. There will be games, prizes and an outdoor movie so please bring the kids down there to let them partake in the fun. There will also still be a kid’s activity at the main picnic shelter on Saturday morn- ing. So once again please bring the kids down there to enjoy a fun activity that Cindy Novicki and her crew will have planned out for them!

As always, we will have a barbecue picnic and raffle Saturday night located at the main picnic shelter in the forest for all attendees to enjoy. The meal is a free-will donation and there will be some great raffle items there, including the kids’ bow contest, for which points have to be earned not purchased (info on page 5). Bring your lawn chairs and come enjoy a good meal and stay for the fun!

Although we understand this year will look a little different due to the fire damage at the forest, we encourage you to make the NBA Jamboree a part of your summer plans. We have been in contact with the forest service quite a lot and they have assured us that things are up and running and they will do all they can to ensure our event will be a success. We appreciate all the hard work they have put into getting the forest back up and running and we think they have handled this unfortunate situation very well. We look forward to seeing you all at this year's Jamboree!