PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Gem and Mineral Association will host its annual Gem, Rock & Jewelry Show this weekend.
The free show will feature exhibits, activities and raffles for all ages from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St. in Port Angeles.
Many favorites are back this year, club member Sandy Fox said, from jewelry vendors to demonstrations, lapidary tools and plenty of gems, minerals, finished jewelry, geodes, crystals, fossils and more.
New this year will be an expanded children’s area dubbed “Rock Alley,” Fox said.
“We’ve revamped all the games so they’re new and fresh,” she said.
The youth section also will feature a treasure hunt and rock painting, rock identification with fluorescent minerals and cutting of some small geodes, she said.
“[There will be] a lot of new fun things,” Fox said.
The association, a nonprofit that has for more than 65 years worked to foster a love of lapidary arts, now boasts about 110 members. The group hosts two shows per year: one in March and the other in September.
Show attendees are welcome to meet group members at their club table during the weekend’s show, where they will sell rocks and display and sell some of the jewelry members have made.
Among the more popular aspects is the raffle, Fox said. With more than 40 items, the show encourages attendees to buy the $1 tickets and put in for the item they want the most.
“Being a New Yorker, I’m not shy so they have me do the raffle,” Fox said.
Proceeds from the raffle fund the club’s activities, association members said.
“They also like the vendors; there are always new vendors at every show,” Fox said.
The fall 2024 vendor list includes: Katabach Creations by Kathy Bachman; PSI, Inc. by Don Bradley; Barkley Gems, Beads & Jewelry by Lori Barkley; Bijoux by Dee by D’Ann Gonzales; Candi’s Jewelry & Gifts by Candi & Gordy Gerard; Joe Holdmann; Cosmic Earth Medicine by Aaron Houtman; Abyss Minerals by Jason Johnson; P&D Agate by Roxanne Jordan; Litho Cat by Bruce Kelley; Rand Products by Ellen Law; Forever Flowers by Denise Lee; Sky to Sea Crystals by Danielle Markley; Dragon Den Studio by Logan Matlock; Lil’ Log Cabin by Vicki Morgan; A Point in Time by Tom Prang; Amazing Files by Pamela June Rademacher; Susie Moons by Susie Roberts; The World’s Fossils & Minerals by Herbert Shepard; Michael Smith Jeweler by Michael Smith; Oak Bay Naturals by Gail Studeman; R&T crystals by Rick Williams; and Addis-Sea Gems, LLC. by Aregawi Yekunno.
Food will be provided both days by Fast Burrito.
The association has a lapidary shop, open to members only, at 40 W. Harrison Road, Unit No. 4, in Sequim. The club hosts classes and workshops on basic lapidary, silversmithing, wire wrapping, chain maille and practical geology. Members also host field trips.
Membership meetings are the third Wednesday of the month starting at 6 p.m. in the KSQM 91.5 FM community meeting room, 609 W. Washington St.
For more about the Clallam County Gem and Mineral Association, visit sequim rocks.org.
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Michael Dashiell is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. Reach him at michael.dashiell@sequimgazette.com.
