I hope you all are looking forward to our upcoming TGMS Show…it’s only four months away, so we need to get planning for how we are going to enjoy…and contribute…to the effort!
The theme of our 68th TGMS Show is “SILICA - Agates and Opals and Quartz, Oh My”, designed to appeal to a very broad spectrum of collectors and mineral enthusiasts. These are some of the most widely collected mineral groups and I’d wager that +95% of collectors’ first specimen fits that bill! They are also some of the most colorful, diverse, economically reasonable…and self-collectable species around. I’d guess that many of you have specimens you have collected on personal or TGMS sponsored field trips. In her case last year, Carol Johnston showed off a couple of real cuties she collected on trips over the years! (I was next to her while she dug that sweet Japan Law Twin on a Stem…unfortunately she turned down my offer to buy it on the spot!)
So what’s this all leading up to?
As you probably know, with the expansion of the TCC and post-Covid dealer losses, the Show Committee and Society Board have decided to play to our unique strengths and double-down on our commitment to the educational lifeblood of our Show - exhibits and programs. (Sidebar here to salute our Dealer Chairs’ efforts to fill as much of the expanded new dealer space as possible…that’s what pays the bills.) This means getting the most bang out of our exhibit space possible…which I am hoping can mean more TGMS member participation as exhibitors. I would very much like to dedicate a “pod” of exhibit cases to TGMS member exhibits…and given our theme, I believe we can turn out a very good showing and perhaps even stimulate some new memberships when people see you can actually still dig nice specimens yourself. Show time is busy time for many of us, but would point out that many of us still manage to put something in most years and we will do whatever we can to make it easy for you. We can get the cases lined and if someone has a graphics bent and is willing to volunteer, perhaps we could get TGMS standard labels for the cases in the pod.
The minimum pod consists of 6 cases (4 x 48” + 2 x 66”) but that can be adjusted if a 30” case is more your speed…and we can make the pod bigger with more cases, or put in a TGMS group-shoot case if someone wants to organize contributions from several members. I can’t volunteer to be that someone, but I will kick this off by volunteering a case of Mexican quartz…and will do my best to twist Les Presmyk’s arm to exhibit some of the pieces that illustrate his Arizona Quartz article that will appear in the January-February “TGMS Show” issue of Rocks and Minerals Magazine. Marie Huizing features our Show theme every year!). Maybe we can get Carol to reprise her exhibit of last year…fleshed out with this year’s finds?
For those who simply don’t have the time…or think they don’t have the right rocks…there are still many opportunities to help out with the Show and have a great time in the process. One of the things that sets our Show apart is the friendliness of our TGMS volunteers…for years our dealers, exhibitors and the general public tell us how much they like the personal touch TGMS people give. If you are a “people person”, and a TGMS Member, volunteer for set-up or take-down security, dealer and exhibitor registration, traffic guidance, the information booth…or bringing refreshments to our overworked office staff! If you are more of a “doer”, volunteer with Robert Crowell and Elaine Hughes for case set-up and take-down, Kent Stauffer’s riser and liner team, Tim McClain’s general “fix what needs fixing” crew …or bringing refreshments to our overworked office staff! (Getting the idea there’s a theme there? Pat McClain, Rose Marques and Marilyn Reynolds put in unbelievable hours on the Show - they can use refreshments…or help…at almost any time before, during and after the Show!)
At TGMS, we do a lot of “digging”…so please Dig In here…start getting ahead on your sleep now, and get ready for another amazing Show. Oh My!!