The 6th Annual Parksville Rock and Gem Show is scheduled for Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at the Qualicum Beach Civic Centre.
The event will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Visitors can check out lapidary and jewellery demonstrations, approximately 50 to 60 vendors, children's activities and educational displays.
“We’re going to have a little bit of everything," said Guy Chouinard, past president. "We’re going to have a silent auction, which will run all day long."
The silent auctions will run through the day, with dozens of prizes up for grabs, which include rhodonite, amethysts, jasper and petrified wood. Five or six local companies have donated prizes for the auction, Chouinard said.
There will be opportunities to learn from demonstrations on wire wrapping to make pendants and flint knapping to create arrowheads out of jasper, obsidian and coloured glass.
There will also be a display by Below BC, a non-profit organization that provides education and outreach about earth sciences.
The Parksville and District Rock and Gem Club has seen a membership increase in the post-COVID years and is close to 200 members, according to Chouinard.
“I think the word’s got out. We’ve got one of the best, if not the best shop on the Island and there’s a lot of them," he said. "We take pride in the shop and the machines we have in there.”
The central Island is a good area for rock hounds, he added, and the club goes on field trips to locations as far as the Cowichan Valley up to Campbell River.
“There’s tons of good rock here," Chouinard said. "There’s lots of rhodonite down in Cowichan. There’s Dallasite on the east side of Vancouver Island, there’s a lot of it and we have found some pretty good places where it can be found."
Admission to the show is $4 per person and children 12 and under are free with an adult.
The Qualicum Beach Civic Centre is located at 747 Jones St.
