A Heartfelt Thank You to Our Community: Reflecting on the 19th Annual TVGMS Jewelry, Gem, and Mineral Show

We want to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who joined us during the Tehachapi Mountain Festival weekend! It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and meet new friends at the Tehachapi Senior Center on August 15th and 16th. Your support helps us continue our mission of promoting the Earth Sciences and sharing our passion for rocks, minerals, and fossils with the community.

Highlights from the Showcase

The energy at the Senior Center was wonderful. Our vendors truly outdid themselves this year, presenting a breathtaking array of showcase minerals, fossils, polished rocks, beads, and handcrafted jewelry. It was a joy to see such a diverse collection on display.

A huge thank you to our featured participants:

• The Opal Byway for their stunning selection of opals in finished jewelry, beads, and cabochons.
• Kris Chaisson for showcasing a fantastic variety of essential lapidary tools.
• Alisa Leyde for her beautiful collection of polished rocks.
• Anna for providing wonderful rocks, minerals, and even delicious herbal teas.
  

The kids are always captivated by our popular spinning wheel, walking away with unique prizes like fossilized shark teeth, ammonites, and minerals. The patio was buzzing with activity as collectors browsed through slabs and rough rock from the silent auction. We also loved seeing the next generation of rockhounds in action! Our TVGMS Pebble Pups youth club also had a blast rock painting with all the children.

We would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated in our raffle. The drawing for our three featured prizes—the large heart-shaped Amethyst, the multicolored Onyx bowl, and the large mounted Smoky Quartz cluster—was a highlight of the weekend. Please remember that as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, all proceeds from our raffle, auctions, and spin wheel go directly toward our educational programs, including school kits, field trips, and student scholarships.

Big News: The Rock Shop is Open!

We were also delighted to see that many of our gem show visitors took the opportunity to visit our newly opened Rock Shop during the show weekend! It was wonderful to host people at our new location to shop, explore the workshop, and learn more about our upcoming jewelry-making and art classes. We also loved seeing more kids enjoying rock painting at the shop.

Located at 20406 Brian Way, Building 4A, The Rock Shop is officially open for business! Whether you are a seasoned collector or a complete beginner, the shop is designed to be a 'ROCKIN' community hub offering:

• Cutting & Polishing: A fully functional workshop where you can bring your field trip finds to be transformed into beautiful specimens.
• Classes: We offer a wide variety of classes, including jewelry-making, lapidary, and silversmithing.
• Retail: A dedicated section featuring handmade jewelry and rock items from our talented vendors.
  

We want The Rock Shop to be a place where people of all ages can expand their creativity, learn new skills, and make lifelong friends. For a nominal annual membership fee (and after completing our orientation and safety classes), you will have full access to the shop and our educational programming.

Join us! Our mission is to promote the study of earth sciences, and we want you to be a part of it. If you want to learn more about upcoming field trips, jewelry-making classes, or even kids' programs, please keep an eye on our website and follow us on social media.

We also invite you to attend one of our monthly meetings, held on the fourth Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Tehachapi Senior Center. Come chat with us—we always love to talk about rocks!

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