By Ventura Breeze Staff –
The Ventura Gem & Mineral Society (VGMS) has announced its 62nd Annual Gem, Mineral, Fossil & Jewelry Show, taking place March 1-2 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, 10 W. Harbor Blvd., Ventura. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The event is free and open to the public, though the Fairgrounds charges a parking fee for those using its lot.
For over six decades, the Ventura Gem Show has been a fun family event with its focus on gemstone cutting and jewelry-making, rocks and fossils, and kids and education. At the show, VGMS will announce the recipient of its $1,000 Scholarship Award given annually to a local college student. Upon entering the show, kids will be given a free polished stone at the Welcome Booth, where teachers receive free rock samples and educational packets. At the Kids Booth, children can enjoy activities offering an assortment of rocky prizes. A nearby display will provide information about the society’s two-room museum in Ojai, where teachers, homeschoolers, and youth groups can arrange tours by appointment.
California hills hold gold, and there will be opportunities to learn how to pan for it at the show! At one booth, expert prospectors will guide you through the basics, and you can purchase “pay dirt” to pan for real gold nuggets and flakes at the show or in your own backyard. In addition, this free show will feature displays of gems, minerals, fossils, and award-winning hand-crafted jewelry. These include educational exhibits of fossils collected locally in and around Ventura County, as well as a display of our State Rock, Mineral, Fossil, and Gemstone (including a gold nugget, an Ice Age saber-tooth cat, and “Auggie”, the California State Dinosaur). Other displays will show how California stones have been crafted into jewelry. Demonstrations will provide visitors with up-close looks at artists pursuing their crafts: gemstone cutting and carving, silver work and jewelry making, beading, and other arts and crafts made from nature. Raffle prizes include a $100 bill, fine jewelry, mineral and fossil specimens, and more. In addition, attendees will enjoy hourly silent auctions for rocks, minerals, and fossils, as well as a “Country Store” white elephant sale, a plant sale, and over 15 dealers selling beads, opals, jade, gemstones, crystals, fossils, jewelry and jewelry-making supplies, and gift items.
VGMS was founded in 1944 to encourage interest in rocks, minerals, fossils, lapidary arts and jewelry-making, and related areas through education, activities, and exhibitions like this annual show, which is open to the community. The society is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit, educational organization and welcomes individual and family members. VGMS hosts monthly talks on earth science topics and jewelry arts, maintains a lapidary arts studio in Ojai, makes presentations to area schools, and conducts field trips for members and guests to collect rocks, minerals, and fossils in southern California and neighboring states.
The Ventura Gem & Mineral Society, Inc., is a nonprofit educational organization and the Ventura Gem Show is the society’s major fund-raising event, helping to under write educational activities, including the annual college scholarship and school visits and donations. For additional details, call 805-312-8467, email info@vgms.org, or visit www.vgms.org.
