Neither construction nor war nor a sour economy kept folks away from Saturday’s 55th Annual Rock and Gem Show at Sweet Home High School.
The rock show drew 1,295 visitors paying the 50-cent admission by 2 p.m. on Saturday. That doesn’t count children, who get in for free. Organizers and vendors said the turnout was much like last year, and vendors reported they were making about as many sales.
“Turnout’s good so far, considering the construction, which has been a problem,” Sweet Home Rock and Mineral Society President Becky Torkko said.
School District 55 is building new locker rooms between the swimming pool and the activity gym, where the rock show is held. The west entrance to the gym was closed by the construction, and visitors had to find their way through the high school to reach the east entrance to the gym.
Bathrooms for the annual event were only available at the front end of the school, and organizers had a problem figuring out how to get handicapped persons to the gym.
“We got here this morning and they were busy building this wall,” Torkko said referring to a wall between the gym and pool through where organizers had planned to bring handicapped visitors.
They worked around it and brought them in through the main entrance of the high school.
Last year, the event drew some 1,200 to 1,400 persons, Torkko said, so she thought the totals Saturday were right on track.
“People have like all of the vendors that we’ve got,” Torkko said. Most of the vendors were repeats with only one exception.
The Rock and Mineral Society’s spinning wheel drew the constant attention of children.
Rafael Cheney, 11, of Sweet Home and Heather Bierbower, 9, and Elizabeth Thompson, 9, both of Stayton, stocked up on toys and rocks there. Struggling with a bag full of rocks and toys, Bierbower showed a few of her prizes.
Jordan Swiggart, 7, of Albany took his chances on the spinning wheel while his grandmother, Linda James, looked on. James, of Sweet Home, enjoys taking the grandkids out looking for rocks. She has found, with her brothers years ago, Holley Blue and thunder eggs, but she prefers rock hunting in Colorado or Hawaii.
John Miller of Albany was busy demonstrating silversmithing.
“You have to have your design, what you’re going to do with your stone, then you have to cut out all your metals,” Miller said as he worked a lump of sterling silver. After making a back and shaping a mount for the stone, the stone is inset into silver. The piece is then worked further to complete it.
Miller hates to admit it, but he has been a silversmith for about 25 years.
“First off, I’m a rock hound,” since about the age of 12, Miller said. “I’d go and cut my own rock, and I could never buy ready-made mounts that would fit the stone.”
To remedy that, he took a class in silversmithing so he could shape his own mounts for his finds.
Miller was a park ranger for the State of Washington before moving to Utah then Sweet Home for a year and a half. He moved from there to Albany, where he has lived for three years.
As a rock hound, he’s found mostly jaspers and agates, Miller said. “I haven’t found gold or anything worth anything yet.”
But that doesn’t keep him from trying.
Miller belongs to the Sweet Home Rock and Mineral Society as does the show’s other demonstrator Vicki Leaming. She was demonstrating jewelry making in general. Her work included the completion of a gold and silver feather bracelet she started last year at the show. She received a couple of custom orders during the show.
Joe Cota, who runs a rock shop in Lebanon, said the economy hasn’t really slowed down anyone’s interest in buying rocks.
“My first show of the year was my best show ever,” Cota said. “This show’s pretty good.”
Every year, he tries to add something new and different to his stock, Cota said. This year, he brought some new fossils and sandstones from Utah. He also has been digging petrified wood on the Baxter Ranch in Holley.
Dave Geissinger of Monmouth said his business was about like usual, with Holley Blue being the biggest seller in Sweet Home and everywhere else in Oregon.
“The mine is closed,” Geissinger said. “It’s been closed for several years, but Holley’s popularity continues.”
A customer asked him why the usually purple agate was called “Holley Blue.”
“That’s one of the things about geology,” Geissinger said. “If you find it you get to name it.”
He noted that some larger pieces often have a bluish hue.
“Oregonians love Holley Blue,” Geissinger said. “You can sell Holley Blue in Oregon anywhere.”
It also draws interest, as a native stone of Oregon, from buyers in Chicago, New York and elsewhere across the nation.
The show’s been “good so far,” Geissinger said. “It’s been very interesting, lots of fun; and we’ve had a few sales.”
A member of the Sweet Home Rock and Mineral Society, he has been doing shows in Sweet Home for four years. The show always gets good local support, and this year was no different.
Geissinger said he is able to meet friends, and he learns a lot at the show.
“I pick their brains about polishing rocks,” Geissinger said. He is a relative newcomer to the business. He’s only been at it for about eight years.
He does about eight shows a year and the Salem Saturday Market.