RHINE – The longtime tradition of target shooting to garner a free Thanksgiving turkey will continue Sunday, Sept. 24, at the 46th Annual Rhine Turkey Shoot and Family Festival here.

The event gets underway at 11:30 a.m. lasting until 5 p.m. at St. Lawrence Catholic Church.

The church grounds are located at 16053 Botkins Road, three miles east of exit 104 at Interstate 75. Admission is free, open to the public, and all proceeds got to St. Lawrence Church.

For more than three generations, gun enthusiasts have traveled to Rhine once a year for a chance to score enough target hits to land the dinner table main dish. Shooters will be using 12-guage shotguns aiming for standing targets to obtain the 14-pound frozen turkey.

Registration for the competition begins at 10:30 a.m.

Five guns will be part of a silent auction, according to co-chairman Elaine Staten. The weapons are valued at $3,000 and will be awarded to the highest bidders who qualify to own a gun. The auction winners will be directed to local gun distributors to submit qualified paperwork for gun ownership.

Staten also reported a raffle will feature a $1,000 cash top prize along with a 32-inch Vizio flat screen television as top prizes. In all, $4,400 worth of cash and prizes will be raffles off. Attendance prizes will also be given out during the day.

The children’s festivities will include a return visit from Bear Claw Jeb at 3:30 p.m. Jeb aka Jeff Hunlock, of Wapakoneta, will display artifacts and spin yarns from true stories of the past days of the Wild West. A BB gun contest is planned, and the Rev. Sean Wilson of St. Lawrence Church will feature his juggling skills for youngsters.

Adult games will include cake and craft wheels and showdown poker.

On the lunchtime menu will be mock turtle soup, turkey noodle soup, homemade sandwiches, pies, pizza and ice cream.