33rd Annual Grassy Creek Gem Show

Grassy Creek Gem Show

Our new website is http://www.grassycreekgemshow.org

Dates are July 30th to August 6th, 2016. Hours are 10 to 6 with some vendors open early and late.

Parking and admission are free.

New location if you missed last year. We are now at the new Parkway Fire and Rescue lot up on the hill above the old lot at the old fire station. We purchased the top of the hill above the old lot and are building a new station there and will have the show in our lot in front of the station.

The address is 136 Majestic View, Spruce Pine, NC 28777.

Contact numbers are Donna Collis 8287655519 collisdonna@yahoo.com or Roger Frye 8287666136.

Our new website is http://www.grassycreekgemshow.org

Keep updated on the best shows with the American Geode gem, mineral, jewelry and fossil show newswire and calendar!
Watch a short video here for gem, mineral and fossil show tips from the experts!
Does your gem, mineral or fossil club or society need new members in your ranks? How about new guests to your gem, mineral and fossil shows? Would you like rockhounds and gem, mineral and fossil enthusiasts to travel across state lines to visit your show? Would you like exponentially more traffic to your club’s homepage or the show’s homepage?

American Geode can help. Between 3000 and 10000 rockhounds and gem, mineral and fossil enthusiasts visit our website each month. They also contact us for suggestions on clubs to join, and shows and events to attend.

Other mineral websites charge between $600 to $1000 per year for a banner ad on their site.

We charge a flat rate of $150 for 12 month basic partnership and offer much more than other mineral sites. Send us two banner ads, 728×90 and/or 150×150, that we will post on our website. As an add-on service, send your club announcements and show announcements for us to post over our famous American Geode Twitter Account with 10,000+ rockhound followers, fans and friends.

The benefits to you and your club are that you will raise higher in the Google ranks when someone searches for gem and mineral clubs, and gem and mineral shows. You will also view many more visitors to your site, soliciting information about how to join your club, download your member application form, and visit your shows.

How to choose the gem and mineral club that is right for you?
Each club does have a different style, and you can tell what that is from their homepage, or if they do not maintain a homepage, then ask someone from the club. Some clubs have access to facilities offering a complete workshop; saws to cut giant geodes in half, cabochon machines, polishing wheels, lapidary tools, faceting machines, and kilns to heat your wire-wrapping or jewelry projects are for member use! Some clubs maintain all that equipment in their own private clubhouse! Is a workshop something you seek to pursue and hone your hobby? If so, then find the club that offers that equipment.

Now the clubs like this may not always have a special monthly speaker, but the clubs who meet in a rental space, hotel banquet hall or college facility do very likely provide different speakers each month. The clubs in big cities, where a workshop or clubhouse would be impractical, or impossible to acquire and maintain rely on other facilities for monthly meetings and shows, so to keep membership growing, those kinds of clubs keep a lively roster of speakers on their calendars.

Is your goal to get out and rockhound? Do you seek to explore old abandoned mines? A question to ask a club is do they throw and organize field trips? You can often times find out the answer on their homepage. There is often a “field trip” section, much like this Rockhound page. If you can’t tell, then ask the club. Sometime being in a big city can make field trips a challenge. Most people in New York City or Chicago do not have cars for instance. A field trip would require permission and arrangement to visit a site, a bus or fleet of vans, and if it rains, the field trip is canceled. So big city clubs may not offer rockhounding field trips. The age range of the club can also set the tone for interest in rockhounding and field trips. For a club whose members’ days of getting out into the field are past, you may not find these opportunities.

So what is the best approach to becoming involved with gem, mineral, and fossil clubs? The answer is to join more than one. The dues are annual and range from $15 per year to about $50 per year on the very high side. You may live in New York but find the newsletter from a club in Texas is chock full of so many good tips about polishing gems and minerals, cleaning rocks from the field, and other anecdotes that you belong despite the geographical distance.

So join more than one gem and mineral club, to have access to a workshop when you need it, field trips in the spring and fall, the chance to hear academic and scholarly discussions in geology and paleontology, and make new friends during the whole gem and mineral club experience!

Geofest is February 17-19 at the Indiana State Museum

Geofest

Indiana State Museum
Indiana State Museum

Calling all rock hounds, fossil hunters, jewelers, scouts and families!

Indiana State Museum’s GeoFest slated for February 17, 18 and 19

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana State Museum will host its 15th annual fossil, gem and mineral show GeoFest on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 17 and 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 19 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will take place in the museum, located at 650 W. Washington Street in downtown Indianapolis.

GeoFest, presented by Indiana-based Irving Materials, Inc. (IMI) will feature geology experts, exhibitors, chances to win geo prizes and hands-on activities that include making your own geode, discovering how rocks and minerals are used in everyday life, building crystalline structures and comparing your speed against ice age animals. Participants will also have the chance to explore the museum’s natural history galleries.

“GeoFest is a great opportunity to see and buy amazing gems, minerals and fossils, and to learn about the Earth through our exhibitions and special activities offered by the museum and earth science organizations from throughout the state,” said Peggy Fisherkeller, curator of geology. “Many of the exhibitors will have just returned from one of the country’s premiere gem and mineral shows in Tucson, Arizona, so GeoFest will be the first opportunity to see treasures from all over the world.”

This year’s participants are listed below:

Vendors
NAYAB Gems and Minerals
Khyber Gemstones
Jox Rox
Nature’s Spectrum Gems
Harris Precht Minerals
Oh My! Jewelry
Hi Ho Gems and Crystals
Lavin’s Gems and Jewelry
M&R Trading, Inc.
PaleoScene
Savage Creations
Kathleen Clausen
Redivius
Indiana Gold Prospectors
Wonders of the Earth
Karen Angela Cox-Ford
Transparent Gem
Michigan Rocks and Minerals
All My Relations
Woodies Rock Shop
Crawfordsville Crinoids

Organizations
IMI
Professional Geologists of Indiana
Indiana Geological Survey
Friends of Mineralogy
500 Earth Science Club and Indiana Society of Paleontology

GeoFest is included with museum admission. Group rates are available. School group and home school group reservations are required to receive free admission. A scout admission price of $5 per person for all scouts and their families is being offered.

For more information, please call the museum at 317.232.1637 or visit online at indianamuseum.org.

# # #

The Indiana State Museum is located in White River State Park in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. It is Indiana’s museum for science, art and culture, offering a place where you can celebrate, investigate, remember, learn and take pride in Indiana’s story in the context of the broader world. Even the building is a showcase of the best Indiana has to offer in architecture, materials and sculpture. Easy and convenient parking is available in the attached underground garage.

Gilsum Rock Swap and Mineral Show 2017

Gilsum Rock Swap and Mineral Show

Gilsum Rock Swap and Mineral Show to be Held June 24-25, 2017

Gilsum, NH — The town of Gilsum, located in the scenic Monadnock Region in southwestern NH, will once again host thousands of people from all over the U.S. who will attend the Gilsum Rock Swap and Mineral Show. Here more than 65 dealers, swappers, distributors, wholesalers and collectors can buy, sell, or swap beryl, quartz crystals, semi-precious stones, and rocks and minerals of all sorts. Displays range from newly found specimens in the rough to fossils, prized collector’s pieces and hand-crafted jewelry.

The event takes place at the Gilsum Elementary School grounds, Route 10 in Gilsum, just north of Keene, NH, and is about 2 hours from Boston. Show hours are 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Saturday and 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM Sunday.

On Saturday at 1:00 PM in the auditorium, James Tovey, owner of Toveco, will show how a freshly mined mineral specimen from the local Tripp Mine moves from rough specimen to fine gemstone jewelry. This presentation is free. Don’t miss “From rough gemstone to finished jewelry.”

Gilsum’s many mines operated until the 1940s and yielded feldspar, mica and beryl. Most are now abandoned, although one, the Beauregard mine, is available to mineral clubs through prior arrangement. Today collectors prize other minerals such as beryl. Maps showing locations of local mines are available during the show.

Since the show’s inception, the town of Gilsum has opened its doors for the event. Activities include a presentation on prospecting Saturday, daily pancake brunch, bake sale, book sale, a traditional Saturday night New England ham and bean supper with homemade pies and a chicken barbeque dinner Sunday afternoon.

Admission is free, although donations are graciously accepted. All proceeds go to youth recreation and community programs.

For more information please contact Robert Mitchell at the Gilsum Recreation Committee, P.O. Box 76, Gilsum, NH, 03448; call 603.357-9636; or send e-mail to gilsumrocks@gmail.com.

Gem and Mineral Club Nov and Dec Newsletters

For the most up to date events, check out our Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Newswire.


From attending, volunteering, and being members of gem and mineral clubs in New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, and attending camps, seminars and intra-club retreats with people from all over the United States, we consider ourselves gem, mineral, and fossil club aficionados. So whether you are considering joining a gem and mineral show for the first time that perhaps you found on our Events page, or you are a veteran of gem and mineral clubs, these newsletters will prove to be a valuable resource on what to expect from a gem and mineral club and how to have more fun.
Continue reading “Gem and Mineral Club Nov and Dec Newsletters”