By WAYNE ALLEN

PDT Staff Writer

The annual Southern Ohio Machine Gun Shoot has attracted the attention of The Travel Channel, which will be filming an episode of Sand Masters at the Minford event on Saturday, April 14.

Ralph Scott, organizer of the Southern Ohio Machine Gun Shoot, said the Travel Channel crew is expected to arrive today and spend the week building a sand sculpture, which will be on display the day of the event.

“The gates will open up around 9:30 a.m. and the sand sculpture will be unveiled to the public,” Scott said. “The public will have a few hours to check out the sculpture, and around 1 p.m. we’re going to blow it up.”

According to www.travelchannel.com, sand sculptors Rusty Croft and Kirk Rademaker travel the planet as two of the world’s most in-demand sand carvers.

“Due to their two totally different artistic styles, skill-sets and approaches to their craft, creative sparks fly as this odd-couple brings the best out of each other on the sand pile. Rusty is the gregarious, business-minded, client-pleasing sand ambassador while Kirk is the free flowing, risk-taking mad scientist of sand,” the website states.

Scott said since the beginning of the machine gun shoot, people from around the United States and the world have attended the event, now in its eighth year.

“Last year a couple (traveled) from Saudi Arabia. We’ve had people come from Canada, Germany, England, Iceland, China and Japan. There is a guy from Denmark flying in this year,” Scott said.

Admission to the Southern Ohio Machine Gun Shoot is $10. Kids 13 and under get in free with parent, active duty military and law enforcement admission is $5 with ID.

The address of the shoot is the 5600 block of White Gravel-McDaniel Road, between Kulp and Glade roads.

The hours of the shoot are 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. The unveiling of the sand sculpture will be at 9:30 a.m. with shooting beginning at 1 p.m.

For more information about the Southern Ohio Machine Gun Shoot visit, gunsusa.biz.

Wayne Allen may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 208, or wallen@heartlandpublications.com.