Prez Says...
by Kenny Reynolds, MSDC President
Hello MSDC members and welcome to March 2024!
This is certainly one of my favorite times of year as the signs of spring are popping out everywhere, and so are the mineral shows! The first show that I am looking forward to going to is the Delaware Mineralogical Society show in Wilmington, Delaware on March 2 and 3. I like driving up and seeing friends and dealers I’ve become close to over the years. Many of the dealers also sell at our local club shows. It’s only about a two-hour drive from DC and a very good show!
Next up is the Montgomery County show on March 16 and 17. This will be the Gem, Lapidary, and Mineral Society of Montgomery County’s 58th annual gem, mineral, fossil, & jewelry show. It will be held at the Montgomery County fairgrounds in Gaithersburg Maryland. Show times are Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 11-5.
This is a big show for our local mineral clubs in the DC area and draws members from all the local clubs! Be sure to put it on your calendar and come see your friends. The entire first floor of the show are devoted to kid’s activities, including a mini-mine where kids get to collect rocks and take part in a mineral quiz. There will also be gold panning exhibits where kids can learn to pan for gold! Mr. Science will be set up to amaze kids with hands on science experiments. The DC microminerologists will also be on hand for kids and adults to get some hands-on instruction into learning about minerals through the microscope. Lastly there will be a lapidary demonstration to learn how to make a cabochon.
The entire second floor of the show will be devoted to dealers selling minerals, gems, fossils, jewelry, and anything else mineral related! It is always a great show and I look forward to seeing everyone there.
I have been working on my displays for the Montgomery County show and am very excited this year to do a display case of smithsonite as well as a case of pyromorphite. I have never done either case before and hope I have good enough material to put on a good show.
Pyromorphite has always been one of my favorite minerals mostly because it was the first mineral I ever field collected. When I first got into the hobby, I had read about a golf course in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania that had been built on the site of some historic old lead mines. It was free to collect there and all you had to do is let the guy in the pro shop know that you were going out collecting. I later found out that the family had built the golf course on the old mine site just to preserve the history of the Brookdale and Southwest Chester mines that were located on the property, I thought that was pretty cool!
I look forward to seeing everyone via zoom at our March 6th meeting where we will have a great presentation by the Smithsonian’s own Mike Wise who will talk to us about "Pegmatites: Earth's Most Amazing Rocks." Hope to see you there!