Ready for a spoiler?
That Daisy BB gun Ralphie Parker desired above all other gifts in “A Christmas Story”?
Yeah, it didn’t exist.
But don’t let that stop you from using your meeting or convention downtime to visit the Daisy Airgun Museum in Rogers.
The small but unique museum houses the world’s largest collection of non-powder firearms, named for the Daisy Manufacturing Co. which has been producing the wildly popular BB guns since 1886. Located in the historic, former Rexall Building at Second and Walnut Streets in Rogers, the museum traces the history of the Daisy airguns through exhibits, collections and a hall of fame, telling the Daisy story from the 19th Century onward.
You’ll learn that Ralphie’s two hundred shot Red Ryder Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock is actually a fictional hybrid of Daisy’s real Red Ryder model and its Buck Jones Special. A commemorative version of the movie’s Red Ryder gun was created in 1983, the year the film was released.
The museum uses its collection of guns, vintage advertising and news articles and a narrative text to trace the history of the airguns as well as the other toy weapons Daisy produced. You’ll learn how the company was originally founded as an unsuccessful windmill producer and how it contributed its steel to the WWII effort by making war materials like ammunition canisters.
The nonprofit museum has a gift shop in which visitors can purchase Daisy airguns at affordable prices, including remanufactured basic models.
After spending the day convening with grownups, the quirky Rogers Daisy Airgun Museum gives you a chance to recapture your childhood, and provides a unique slice of American history and a fresh look at an iconic piece of Americana.
Call (479) 986-6873 or visit daisymuseum.com.
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