Show Attendance

As I travel from show to show, I am finding less attendance from both the dealers and general public. Is this a trend we want to see continue and why is it going this way at all.

I got my start in this hobby by being employed by ZCA mining Co. as a underground driller. I started finding stuff I though the wife would like. You know the stuff, real pretty. My first find happened to be a pair of calcite's that measured about 11 inches in length, both identical. Then graduating to pyrite, kids loved the stuff.

At that point I was hooked but had never been to a rock & gem show in my life. I happened to be reading the paper one night and saw that there was a show for rocks. I was thinking who would have a show with rocks in it, must be crazy people. That was 11 years ago and now I have found out I am one of them.

So that brings us back to why poorer than normal attendance now? Could it be less kids are getting in to collecting rocks and more in to pokieman figures and cards? Maybe with the internet, people can sit to home and travel to anywhere in the world to view and buy minerals. Maybe more and more collecting sites have been shut down so that people are unable to collect in there area to swap for other stuff to add to there collection. How about the prices of minerals have skyrocket so that most can't make there collection a good one without putting a second mortgage on the house.

Lets start with the kids, that is a very true statement. Less and less are they being introduced to the hobby. They are the future show attendance. The flip side is the one's that are in it now are getting older. We are loosing many of our old time rockhounders everyday. Make it a point to sit and listen to the stories they have to tell and the advice they have to offer before it is too late.

The invention of the internet has been a great thing for rockhounders everywhere. We can now talk with others anywhere in the world. The sites selling minerals are being added everyday. But with all the bells and whistles it still can't replace the shows. Nothing like picking up a mineral specimen and talking in person with the one who collected it. Also may I add right now concerning the internet and a mineral business. Having a site is just the very beginning, you need to find ways to get people there. Your site is only competing with thousands other's trying to do the same thing. It's a great adjunct to an established business that will allow there customers to go and place orders.

Everyday that passes it seems another collecting area has been closed. What I am hearing it is mostly due to insurance reasons. Either way, we can't go collect there. I am lucky in that since, we have a number of places close by to collect, but the same holds true.

Last but not least is the prices of minerals. I think a number have left the hobby due to the fact they can't afford to build a collection. With collecting areas being shut down in there area, they have nothing to sell or swap to get minerals into there collections. Maybe that is why there is a trend with dealers to carry a full line of jewelry or other products not intended to be bought by the true mineral collector but the general public.