Louisiana Sportsman Show offers fun for the whole family

36th annual event set for March 12-15 at Lamar-Dixon in Gonzales

The 36th Annual Louisiana Sportsman Show and Festival, Louisiana’s largest outdoor and boat show, will be held March 12-15 at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales.

The show, which is sponsored by Ram Trucks, will feature acres of boats, fishing and hunting equipment, ATVs, tractors and outdoor power equipment, and activities for the entire family.

More than 250 vendors will be at the show, offering acre upon acre of fishing tackle and hunting gear.

But there really are three shows — the main show, a boat show and a power equipment show — held on the same grounds that weekend. And all three are included in a single admission fee, which is once again $10 per day.

Show hours are 2 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

The main Louisiana Sportsman Show includes a variety of family oriented events:

• The Yamaha-sponsored Louisiana Sportsman Big Buck Contest, which will display of some of the largest bucks killed this season in Mississippi, Louisiana and across the country. The Louisiana Chapter of the Quality Deer Management Association will be hosting and running the event this year.

• Splash Dogs, in which participants can enter their dogs in retriever competitions.

• A Kids Village, with free admission to the show for kids on Sunday.

• A 3-D archery range, sponsored by Cabela’s.

• A Yamaha ATV test track featuring the Viking VI XSX six-passanger side-by-side UTV.

• A bass tank, where pros will be giving regular fishing seminars.

• The Sportsman Zone brought to you by Bowie Outfitters, which houses everything fishing plus more. Bowie has bought truck loads of product just for this event, and huge discounts will be offered on many items. Factory reps also will be on-site.

• Fishing and hunting outfitters from across the United States.

• A full food court.

In addition to the Louisiana Sportsman Show, the Louisiana Sportsman Boat Show sponsored by Dow Louisiana Federal Credit Union is the place to be if you’re even thinking about buying a boat. The boat show will again provide one-stop shopping with special show pricing from all the major brands of bass, bay and pontoon boats.

Looking for a new piece of power equipment? That’s no problem, since the Louisiana Sportsman power equipment area will feature products by Kubota, John Deere, Toro, Stihl, Husqvarna and many other brands, as well as ATVs, UTVs, golf carts and other forms of power equipment. Again, special show pricing will be offered.

And DLFCU can even offer on-site credit processing to ensure you can lock in the special pricing for the boat show and the power equipment show.