<p>Four Branches Sporting Reserve will be hosting Clays for Commerce on Friday, July 24.</p>

Four Branches Sporting Reserve will be hosting Clays for Commerce on Friday, July 24.

POLKTON — Four Branches Sporting Preserve will be hosting Clays for Commerce on Friday, July 24, as a fundraising event for the Anson County Chamber of Commerce.

At the event, teams of four will compete to see who can shoot the most clays as they proceed through a 14-station European style sporting clays course.

Planning for the event first started in late 2018.

“We used to do a golf tournament in the Spring,” said Shelby Emrich, president and CEO of the Anson County Chamber of Commerce, “but it had dwindled down in the number of participants over the last several years. We decided we needed to come up with a different type of event for our spring fundraiser. Sporting clays have recently become a huge past time. Four Branches was in the process of developing, so we began to have conversations with its owners about holding the event out here.”

The event was originally slated for April, but COVID-19 put a damper on these plans,

“Due to COVID-19, we had the stay at home order and the restrictions,” explained Emrich. “We did not want to cancel the event all together. With it being outdoors, social distancing is not a problem.”

Clays for Commerce will begin with breakfast and registration at 8 a.m. Following breakfast, Four Branches will go over the rules for the competition, which will begin at 9 a.m. The competition will last until 12 p.m., at which points guests will be served lunch.

“Because of COVID-19, we will be serving the lunch ourselves instead of having it buffet style,” said Ashley Scarborough, Four Branches co-owner.

Hand sanitizer will also be provided to guests. Guests are not required to wear masks. The teams can be made up of either groups of friends or co-workers. The first, second, and third-place teams will all receive trophies.

In addition to Clays for Commerce, Four Branches will also be celebrating it’s one year anniversary from Friday, July 17 until Sunday, July 19.

“Our anniversary is on July 20,” said Scarborough. “This year, to celebrate, we’ll be having discounted clays. Saturday, July 18 will be our biggest day. The first ten customers will receive 100 free clays. We’ll have random raffle items that day as well. A catered lunch will also be for sale on Saturday.”

Other upcoming events at Four Branches include a fundraiser for the child cancer non-profit The Max Life Foundation on August 14, a fundraiser for the Boy Scouts in September, and a fundraiser for Lifespan, which is an nonprofit that helps provide education and enrichment opportunities to children and adults with developmental disabilities, in October.

For Four Branches, these fundraisers provide, “a good chance for us (Four Branches) to target customers that wouldn’t normally come here. It’s nice to engage new clientele,” said Scarborough.

Fundraisers are also paramount to the Chamber of Commerce.

“For the chamber, fundraising is a huge part of our budget,” said Emrich. “In raising funds, we’re able to help our members and community. The way we look at events, we look at them as a way to bring our community together. These fundraisers give us and our members more exposure.

Upcoming events for the Chamber of Commerce include the Kids Expo on Aug. 8, Chamber on the Half Shell on Sept. 26, and the Big Game Hung on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving

Reach Charles Wood at cwood@ansonrecord.com or at 704 994 5471