BUCYRUS – The owners of a new business in downtown Bucyrus hope it “sticks” with Crawford County area residents as they try to hit the bullseye.
Stephen Knapp and his partner, Shawn Miller, have opened The Copper Irons LLC at 215 S. Sandusky Ave., an indoor axe throwing venue that they say provides a safe family-friendly activity for people of all ages.
“As crazy as it sounds, it’s a very safe activity,” said Knapp, who welcomed the first group of competitors in late January. “It really is for everybody. It’s not super difficult. A few pointers here and there and most people get it pretty quickly.”
The Copper Irons has eight lanes, which can accommodate six throwers per lane each hour, he said. The targets are made of two-inch-thick pieces of cottonwood, which he said is locally sourced, and the axes safely secure to the wall with heavy-duty magnets.
The venue also features a game area with Foosball, air hockey tables and dartboards. A claw machine arcade game was also installed last week, which Knapp said is chock-full of toys, stuffed animals, Bluetooth speakers and Copper Irons T-shirts and hats.
Knapp, who retired last summer from the Galion Police Department, said he and Miller first hatched the idea of investing in an axe throwing business three years ago when they tried the modern sport in a large city and thought it could work for Bucyrus, too.
They officially signed the building’s lease last July, then began a major remodeling of the three-story structure, inside and out. They stripped the carpet and resurfaced and oiled the hardwood floors, plus redid two restrooms on the 3,000-square-foot main level.
The original tin ceilings were spray painted to resemble their copper luster from the mid-1800s when the brick building was home to Wise Furniture, Knapp said. The glass entrance was also jazzed up with a copper shield, window trim and dark blue paint.
As for the business’s name, it was derived from the old copper badges worn by law enforcement to reflect Knapp’s career coupled with “the irons” – the pickaxe and Halligan tools used by firefighters since Miller is a volunteer firefighter in Jefferson and Tiro-Auburn Townships.
Knapp said customers also have the option of booking lanes online, as well as signing the mandatory waivers in order to play. The Copper Irons, he said, is available for private events and offers specials and discounts to first responders, veterans and military service members.
And down the road? The co-owners are looking at repairing the building’s old elevator to allow handicapped access to the second and third floors. Depending on interest, they are also thinking of adding a Nerf arena or restaurant inside the venue.
“There are two more floors we haven’t touched yet, so the possibilities are endless,” said Knapp, a Colonel Crawford graduate. “We hope to just keep moving forward and moving up and offering more to the community the bigger we get.”