Exhibitor booths at the Tanana Valley Sportsmen's Association Gun Show on Saturday afternoon transformed the UAF Patty Center from a basketball gym to a gun-collector's dream.

From military hand-held guns to bayonetts, from competitions rifles to regular .22's, there was something for everyone. Private collectors, local businesses, and national clubs showed off their goods to a full gym.

The gun show, sponsored by the Tanana Valley Rifle and Pistol Club, divides the proceeds of the $5 admission a person between local high school rifle teams and the UAF Rifle Team, among many other student-based organizations.

"It basically goes to education of firearms," said John Hume, the gun show coordinator and vice president of the Tanana Valley Rifle and Pistol Club.

The club sponsors many groups including high school shooters, many of whom go on to become members of the UAF rifle team, Hume said.

"They come to the UAF rifle team and become champions again and again and again," he said.

Lathrop and West Valley High Schools were among some of the sponsored schools with booths at the show.

Cowboys from the 1860's wandered around the show, showing off antique guns and wearing genuine cowboy clothes. The Golden Heart Shootist Society's booth featured characters such as Judge Yukon Hatch, Sweet Caroline, and Wind Drifter, who showed off their genuine antique cowboy guns and enticed people to join their reenactment club, which is active in all 50 states and in 13 different countries.

According to Judge Yukon Hatch, the members of the club meet and reenact shooting sequences from old western movies in a makeshift cowboy town outside of Fairbanks.

New members to the club get to create and register a character, said Gaylen Searlds, alias Wind Drifter.

"When you're dressed up, that's who you are," he added.

Among the club booths and big-name gun shops were a few private collectors. Paul Bruhne and his family had a table of guns, recognition ships, and homemade dog biscuits for sale. The family was trying to earn money towards the new house they're building.

Bruhne, a university employee at the physical plant, collected the guns throughout his adult life.

"But if you want to write about a booming business," he said, "talk to my daughter. Heather's Happy Hound Biscuits are actually good!"

Heather has been selling the biscuits at the gun show for two years.

"I started making them for the Homeward Bound Rescue organization and I've been selling them ever since," Heather, 14, said.

Jordan Bruhne, 11, had a display of antique recognition ships, miniature sized battle ships the Navy used to track ships.

"Last year one guy bought my entire collection for $60, but this year I haven't sold one," Jordan said about his ships.

Another private collector was selling a set of guns he'd been collecting for a few years, featuring a custom-built rifle for around $2300. Al Snider got hooked on guns at a young age.

"I had a BB gun when I was 5 and it just got worse from there," said Snider, 45, a full-time student in applied business management. "When I was 22, I was a diver in the Navy and my gun then was an M-16."

Weapons weren't the only things featured at the show. There was honey, jam, jewelry, and belt buckles galore, causing diversity that pleased former UAF rifle team member Erin Skeuse.

"I really like how they have girly stuff this year," Skeuse, 23, said. "They usually only focus on the guy stuff."

Another UAF student browsed the gun booths, searching for his dream guns.

"I was only looking for two guns, and I was hoping to get a smokin' deal," Levi Russell, 21, said. "I just couldn't find what I was looking for."