Remember the feeling of awe and wonder that came over you the first time you visited the Hall of Gems and Minerals at the American Museum of Natural History, home of the Star of India and the DeLong Ruby? Did you never quite outgrow your childhood compulsion to bring home interesting rocks from every place you visit? Are there still geodes, crystals and fossils gathering dust on your mantelpiece, a string of semiprecious stones adorning your wrist, a basket of heart-shaped rocks gracing your coffeetable, smooth, colorful riverstones outlining your flowerbeds?
If so, don’t keep it all to yourself. This weekend offers your best annual local opportunity to pass on that familiar fascination with the myriad beauties of geology to some young person or persons of your acquaintance. The Mid-Hudson Valley Gem & Mineral Society, Inc. will be hosting its 48th annual Gem, Mineral, Fossil & Jewelry Show & Sale at Gold’s Gym in Poughkeepsie from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, September 16 and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday the 17th.
This year’s show will spotlight garnets as gemstones. Rumor has it that tawny port and burgundy are hot colors on the runways for this coming fall and winter, so you might want to grab this opportunity to accessorize with some coordinating garnet jewelry! Lapidarists will be on hand to demonstrate how they cut, polish and set gemstones, and there will be plenty of unusual handcrafted jewelry for sale by more than 25 dealers. If you’re more jazzed by hard science than high fashion, the Gem & Mineral Show will lure you in with information displays and specimens from the Vassar Geology Museum, as well as exhibits of rocks with veins of fluorescent minerals glowing under black lights.
This is an irresistible event for kids: Little ones can collect six free rocks apiece at “Glitter Mountain,” and there’s a special scavenger hunt for high schoolers from high schoolers from the mid-Hudson Valley. And who doesn’t enjoy feasting their eyes on meteorites, samples of exquisitely carved jade, hand-flaked arrowheads, insects forever trapped in amber?
Admission to the Gem, Mineral, Fossil & Jewelry Show & Sale costs $5, $4 for seniors, $2 for students; children under age 12 get in free. Gold’s Gym is located at 258 Titusville Road in Poughkeepsie. To find out more, e-mail sunstone33@verizon.net or visit http://mhvgms.org.
Mid-Hudson Valley Gem & Mineral Society’s 48th annual Gem, Mineral, Fossil & Jewelry Show/Sale, Saturday, September 16, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, September 17, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., $5/$4/$2, Gold’s Gym, 258 Titusville Road, Poughkeepsie, sunstone33@verizon.net, http://mhvgms.org.
Join the family! 
