East Texas Quarterly Magazine Summer 2013 | Page 20

whiz through in an hour, you’re right. Families spend
the whole day at the show, which is why the club
started offering meals and home-made desserts, yet
another fundraising aspect of the show.
In fact, this is the rock club’s only big fundraiser. It’s
only $3 admission for adults (children and students
free), so that doesn’t add up too fast, but proceeds
from the silent auction, spinning wheel, food sales
and vendor booths also go to the club. They have an
expensive habit to support—they have rebuilt half
of an old office building into a clubhouse, and now
they want to complete the classroom and workshop
in back. For Information, call 409 384 3974.

This year the show offers a chance for everyone to get
bitten by the rockhound bug. A new vendor is bringing Rock club history
a mining operation to the show and his booth is so large The rock club itself meets monthly (third Thursdays, 7
(and messy!) it will be out back of the show hall.
pm) and attracts members from about a 90-mile circle
of Jasper. It was established in 1992 by 12 members
Participants buy a bucket of ore from a ruby mine in who met wherever they could find a spot.
North Carolina, salted with rough gems from around
the world. The bucket may contain rubies, sapphires, At first in was in a craft mall until it sold and then in
emeralds, topaz, or amethyst.
a series of locations as the popular club gained more
The only way to find out is to wash the bucket in a
sluice of running water and pick out the gems. You
get a geology lesson in the process as you learn to
identify the stones you find, and then they are yours
to keep or to send off and have them made into jewelry.
If you are getting the idea that this is not a show you

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East Texas Quarterly

members.

It was a chance encounter by member Jonetta Nash
that led to the Tonahill family donating the clubhouse
they now call home. Some looked at the ramshackle
building at 110 N. Zavalla St. as the original definition
of a white elephant gift – something of great value