Feeling like a pedicure? Head on over to the Cortez Gun and Sportsman Show this weekend at the Montezuma County Fairgounds. This gun show aims to please just about everyone.
It offers wares from the head to the toe. It is about spa as well as sports.
“This sportsmen show has expanded. We’ve got everything from Avon (cosmetics) to assault weapons,” said gun show manager Stephen Blackwell.
“You can come into this gun show and get a pedicure, manicure, and your hair done while your husband is out buying guns.”
There will also be knife-makers and taxidermists, vendors selling kayaks and camping equipment, cheerleaders from Montezuma-Cortez High School doing a fundraiser, and artists who create household fixtures, such as chandeliers, from antlers.
“We’ve got the entire community participating,” said Blackwell, anticipating it will be the biggest show from “Wyoming to Albuquerque.”
Blackwell said 125 vendors have rented 245 tables to sell their wares and promote their causes. To facilitate gun purchases, background checks will be performed on site.
Blackwell anticipates 4,000 people for the event, also timed to coincide with a weekend banquet fundraiser for the National Rifle Association.
The gun show should provide an economic boost going into the summer tourist season, Blackwell said.
Previously, the gun show was in June, but Blackwell decided better timing would be to have it during the slow month of April, when the weather “can’t make up its mind if it’s summer or winter,” he said.
The show is the biggest fund-raiser of the year for the Four Corners Rifle and Pistol Club, which is the biggest club in Montezuma County with about 500 members, Blackwell said.
The club, which maintains area gun ranges, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
The gun show schedule is 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Admission is $5 a day.
Children under 12 are free if accompanied by an adult.
jhaug@durangoherald.com