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Friday, May 2, 2008
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This show ROCKS Aitkin will be the scene this weekend of the sixth annual Agate & Mineral Show Senior Reporter Aitkin should be a rockhound's heaven this weekend.
The Cuyuna Rock, Gem and Mineral Society is hosting the sixth annual Agate & Mineral Show from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at Aitkin High School along Highway 210. The show is free and there will be hourly door prize drawings and concessions on site.
Not just pretty rocks, agates can be big business.
"I've been picking agates since I was a little kid," said Sharon Smith, Cuyuna Rock, Gem and Mineral Society vice president. Smith developed the hobby into a business buying and selling agates from around the world. She sells agates on eBay and is developing her own Web site. Smith said she's edited a book for an author who writes about agates and has been invited to symposiums on the subject and met people from across the globe. Her agates have gone to Australia, Germany and throughout the United States.
"It's a lot of fun," Smith said. "It really changed my life. It can just be a hobby with pretty rocks or it can be a science and there are collectors all over the world that trade stones in the thousands of dollars - so it can get pretty exiting."
Growing as an event, the Agate & Mineral Show has moved to larger venues during recent years. This is the first year at the high school, which provides space for indoor booths and events and a tailgate section where agates are bought, sold and traded. This is the first year the event will cover two days. Smith said last year between 300 and 400 people attended Agate & Mineral Show.
Minnesota's state gemstone is the Lake Superior agate. Smith, a Lake Superior agate collector, said she didn't realize there were agates all over the world until she became more involved with them.
For novice rockhounds, Smith said the best advice is to go out after a rain and look for shiny rocks that pick up the light. Rocky lakeshore makes for good hunting ground.
At the Agate & Mineral Show, a Kid's Corner will have a sandbox salted with agates and petrified shark's teeth that children will be able to dig into and keep what they find. A Wheel of Rock Fortune will cost 25 cents for a spin in order to win a rock represented on the wheel.
Vendors will have agates and minerals from around the world, polished specimens, fossils, jewelry and gifts. Special displays and demonstrations are planned throughout the day. How to create wire wrap jewelry using polished stones is one planned demonstration topic. How to identify agates, cut and polish them and a look at the equipment used to turn rocks to gems will be part of the show.
Smith said the Cuyuna club is the nearest rock club for 150 miles with members from Park Rapids, St. Cloud and Hibbing. The club meets in Crosby and is involved in field trips, has speakers and demonstrations. The youngest member is about 3 years old and the oldest is about 80.
"So if you are interested in rock hounding at all you have so many more resources that you are not exposed to anywhere else," Smith said. "It's a great thing for families to participate in."
RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
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