Ventura Gem, Mineral, Fossil, Lapidary Show, March 2-3!



The Ventura Gem & Mineral Society’s 57th Annual Gem, Mineral, Fossil, & Lapidary Show is coming to the Ventura County Fairgrounds (10 W. Harbor Blvd., Ventura), on Sat., March 2 (10AM-5PM) and Sun., March 3 (10AM-4PM). There are going to be beautiful displays, the annual Country Store & Plant Sale, silent auctions and a raffle for great prizes, kids activities, demonstrators showing rock cutting and jewelry-making techniques, and all sorts of dealers selling rocks, fossils, minerals, jewelry, and lapidary arts supplies. Entrance to the show is free, although there is a $5 parking fee imposed by the fairgrounds.

VGMS Gem & Mineral Show – March 2-3, 2019

The VGMS holds its annual Gem and Mineral Show (at the Ventura County Fairgrounds) on the first full weekend in March. Join us for 2 days of exhibits, dealers, kid’s activities, silent auctions, raffles, plant sales and a rummage sale. (The latter two sales fund our scholarship program.)

The 57th Annual Gem, Mineral, Fossil & Lapidary Show of the Ventura Gem & Mineral Society (VGMS) takes place March 2–3 (10AM—5PM, Saturday; 10AM—4PM, Sunday) at the Ventura County Fairgrounds (10 W. Harbor Blvd, Ventura, CA). The show is open to the public and admission is free, although the Fairgrounds charges a parking fee if using the Fairgrounds lot.

There’s gold in them thar hills, and you can learn how to pan for it at the 57th Annual Show of the Ventura Gem & Mineral Society. At one booth, expert prospectors will guide you through the steps of gold panning, and you can purchase “pay dirt” to pan for real gold in your own backyard. You’ll also see displays that include meteorites, handcrafted jewelry, and “Auggie”, the California State Dinosaur.

With a focus on kids and education, on gemstone cutting and jewelry-making, and on rocks and fossils, the Ventura Gem and Lapidary Show has been a fun family event for 57 years. During our pre-show dinner on Friday, March 1, we will present a $1,000 Scholarship to geology student Diana Valentino of Santa Barbara City College. The next day on entering the show, kids will be given a free polished stone at our Welcome Booth, where we will have free rock samples and educational packets for teachers. At the Kids Booth, children will enjoy activities offering an assortment of rocky prizes. A display nearby will offer information about the society’s two-room museum in Ojai, where teachers, home-schoolers, and Scouts can arrange tours by appointment.

This free lapidary show will feature 60 displays of gems, minerals, meteorites, fossils, and award-winning handcrafted jewelry. Among these will be 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 and Ice Age saber-tooth cat). Still other displays will show how stones collected locally have been crafted into jewelry. Demonstrations throughout the show will give visitors up-close looks at artists pursuing their skills, including gemstone cutting, silver work and jewelry making, beading, and other arts. Raffle prizes include fine jewelry, a $100 bill, mineral and fossil specimens, and more. Also part of the festivities are hourly silent auctions for rocks, minerals, and fossils, as well as a white elephant sale, plant sale, and over 15 dealers selling beads, opals, jade, gemstones, crystals, fossils, jewelry and jewelry-making supplies, and gift items. It’s a Ventura tradition the whole family can enjoy!

VGMS was founded in 1944 to encourage interest in rocks, minerals, fossils, jewelry-making, and related areas through education, activities, and exhibitions such as 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 lapidary arts, makes presentations to area schools, and conducts field trips for members and guests that often involve collecting rocks, minerals, and fossils in southern California and neighboring states.

The show is the society’s major fund-raising event helping to underwrite educational activities, including the annual college scholarship.

http://vgms.org/category/gem-show/



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