Have you ever gone for a walk and suddenly realized you’ve filled your pockets with rocks that caught your eye along the way? You’re probably a rockhound, says Les Bontron, president of the Alberni Valley Rock and Gem Club.
The club is celebrating its 65th anniversary on March 11-12 with its annual rock and gem show at the Alberni Athletic Hall.
The club started in 1958 thanks to the efforts of amateur prospectors—and rock collectors—Ed Keisig, Greta McGarrigle, Mary Sundstrum, Ken Farrell, Fred Boyko and Bill Hellen. Hellen owned Hellen’s Hobby Shop on upper Third Avenue before he moved to Nanaimo. Although many of the founders are gone now, their love for lapidary lives on.
The club boasts approximately 70 members including Bontron, who joined in 2011 due to “an interest in rocks and what you can do with them.”
Bontron makes jewellery with rocks and gems, and has an affinity for lapis from Afghanistan. It is just one of many items that rockhounds and rock-curious alike can pick up from vendors at the annual gem show.
The club’s first show was held in 1980 at Echo Centre, where members demonstrated faceting, rock polishing, cabochon making, and provided activities for children. Many of these activities are ongoing in 2023.
The show moved to Cherry Creek Hall in 1996, and again to a bigger venue—Alberni Athletic Hall—in 2017. The club also moved out of its small storage space in Cherry Creek Hall to a bigger space.
“For decades it was a dream of club members to have our own workshop,” Bontron said.
“In 2019 we renovated and built our shop/ meeting room at the west end of 5100 Tebo Avenue in the Jericho Road Church building.”
The workshop is open Monday evenings and Wednesday afternoons—Bontron wishes more people would use the facility, which includes equipment such as rock saws, grinding and polishing machines.
“There’s just a few members that come in and use it,” he said.
Prior to COVID-19 travel restrictions the club would run the occasional rockhounding field trip around the region. These would take place in the summer months when the weather is more conducive to trekking around rock piles, Bontron said.
These trips have been made more difficult with logging companies keeping gates to the backcountry locked, and their schedules unpredictable, he added.
The annual rock and gem show is open this Saturday, March 11 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, March 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Alberni Athletic Hall, 3727 Roger St. Vendors will be there from all over Vancouver Island, and there are plenty of activities for kids and adults alike.
For more information on the Alberni Valley Rock and Gem Club or membership, visit the club’s Facebook page or call Les Bontron, 250-724-1564.
susie.quinn@albernivalleynews.com
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