It's always been possible to find all sorts of gems, minerals, beads and jewelry along with lapidary equipment - and just about anything else you could think of - at the Tucson Electric Park Gem & Mineral Show.
This year it will also be possible to learn how to make jewelry.
JewelryTools.com is a new vendor that's offering up to 150 different classes over the 16 days the show is open at Kino Sports Complex, 2500 E. Ajo Way.
"It's bigger," said Jim Gehring, vice president of AS Shows Inc., which owns the TEP Gem & Mineral Show. More than 200 rock, mineral, fossil and jewelry suppliers are expected.
The show's massive white tents started going up earlier this month, and there's been nonstop activity ever since.
It is one of the biggest shows in the Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase, which starts Saturday and runs through Feb. 12 with more than 40 shows throughout the greater Tucson area.
People are also reading…
Estimates are that the collection of stone-selling shows delivers more than $100 million in annual economic impact.
The Kino Sports Complex, formerly known as Tucson Electric Park, is a favorite of many Tucsonans, with shows offering free admission and parking.
The Rock Show, formerly the RV Gem Show, will again set up on the soccer fields. And The Best Bead Show is at Kino Veterans Memorial Community Center, 2805 E. Ajo Way. There will be shuttles.
It's possible, fans say, to spend a full day or more just browsing, and shoppers can spend as little as a dollar or two or thousands.
Zeno Pfau and his son-in-law, Trym Gibbons, have been running the The Rock Show on the soccer fields of the Kino Sports Complex for six years.
"It's kind of more for fun than for business," Pfau said. "We do this on the side because we like rock collecting."
Many people who live in Tucson don't realize the showcase is "the biggest show of its kind on the world," he said.
And too many miss the opportunity to see fossils and other specimens from across the world.
Pfau, who started rock-hunting in the California desert when he was a kid, estimated that 90 percent of the vendors in his show are from the United States.
Some sellers have mines while others bought out estates or rock shops that have gone out of business with a large inventory of rock.
"What seems to be real popular now seems to be turquoise, because it's really hard to get," Pfau said, noting that one of the world's most famous sources is the Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Mine in Globe.
The Best Bead Show has been part of the Tucson showcase at the sports park for 11 years, and features dozens of vendors that sell beads and other goods, and offer classes.
The show runs Wednesday through Feb. 5, staying open the first night until 8 p.m.
Check www.bestbeadshow.com for hours.
The show spans the gymnasium and two pavilions. Owner John Iannucci advised budgeting at least four to five hours to take it all in.
Iannucci has become involved in the local community, donating space to the nonprofit Sonoran Glass Art Academy's Flame Off! competition.
Find more on Flame Off! on Page 24.
