With well over 1,000 people attending the Estevan Wildlife Federation's inaugural event for hunters, collectors and recreational shooters in 2014, it’s no surprise another gun show is ready to take off a year later.
“We’re hoping to have as big a success, I mean, it was phenomenal last year,” said Lionel Bender, one of the organizers of the show. “It was beyond our expectations.”
Bender has teamed up once again with Kevin Thompson to organize the event, which last April, included 88 tables and dozens of vendors.
Bender said they’ve included six more tables for vendors and are effectively filled right up at the Wylie-Mitchell Hall, the same facility that hosted the show last year.
He added one of last year’s vendors was lost to Calgary’s Arm’s Show, which is held a few days after Estevan’s.
Despite losing one vendor to the colossal show in Calgary, interest in Estevan’s gun show is far reaching and vendors will be coming from far and wide to show off their products.
“We have vendors coming from Lethbridge Alberta, Swift Current, right across southeast Saskatchewan, there’s one from Portage la Prairie, Manitoba and one coming from south of Winnipeg,” Bender said.
Local taxidermist Cassandra Bird will be returning as well via her Bird's Eye Taxidermy business.
One of the new faces belongs to a fishing outfitter from northern Saskatchewan, who Bender tried to include in last year’s show but couldn’t due to the jam packed attendance list. Another vendor from Arcola will also make an appearance for the first time.
“She creates pillows with wildlife art on it,” Bender explained. “They’re beautiful.”
Expanding the variety of products on display and making sure there is something for everyone is an important part of the planning phase for this year’s gun show.
Several booths will be dedicated to a wide range of new and used handguns, which was something visitors were interested in seeing more of last year.
He also noted there is a growing number of women who have taken an interest in hunting.
“It’s fun to watch the large number of people coming in and taking it all in,” he said, adding he wished he had the ability to accommodate all of the vendors who are on the waiting list.
Despite the downturn in oil prices, Bender is happy with the excitement surrounding the event.
“I’m happy [vendors] want to come back,” he said.
When asked why the show garnered so much interest, Bender said the lack of gun dealers and ammunition stores in the area is a big factor.
“The closest one we have is in Regina,” he said.
And the interest easily translated into money being spent. Bender said one gun, a .50 calibre Browning Machine Gun (BMG), sold for $8,500 last year.
Next year, Bender said he hopes to move the gun show to a bigger facility. The curling rink in Estevan is the one he hopes to obtain for the weekend.
“It just wasn’t in our budget this year,” he said.
The Estevan Gun Show will be held on March 28 and 29, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
A raffle will be held during the event. All the proceeds will be divided and donated to the Canadian Diabetes Association and the local Multiple Sclerosis Society.
