Most Recent Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of Shenandoah Valley Gem and Mineral Society
Meeting date: June 9, 2025
Notes:
There were 20 members (including one new one!) eager to discover what the "special surprise" activity would be. Several members brought "W" minerals to include willemite (fluorescent neon green); wulfenite; wolframite; "water" included quartz; and werenerite. Thanks for participating in our show and tell. Thanks to Larry K for donating some free crinoids, calcite specimens and coral heads for us to take home.
Business:
- Cindy displayed a framed copy of our club's original acceptance into the Eastern Federation of Minerals and Lapidary on July 2, 1965. The certificate was still in good shape for being 60 years old, and being in the shop for many years!
- Cindy has been doing some investigating into having club hats, 🧢 t-shirts, and denim long-sleeved shirts made for members. She had 2 logos for us to choose from. She will give us more information about cost and ordering at a later date.
- Charlie has purchased some safety glasses for members to wear while they are working at the shop. The shop is open from 9 am to noon on the Saturday following a meeting.
FIELD TRIPS:
- Debbie summarized the trip to Rose River on June 7. Sixteen members attended the all day field trip to Rose River in Syria, VA on June 7, 2025. The water level was down, so most of the collecting was from the multitude of rocks 🪨on the riverbanks. Many large stones were gathered and carried by hand, by bucket, and by karts to cars, vans and trucks. Specimens collected included red jasper, unakite, quartzite, epidote, galaxy stone, metabasalt, and others. Everyone enjoyed looking at each other's treasures, and sharing pieces was common. The weather was great, no snakes were seen and the mountain gnats finally gave up and left! We thank Ed Stuart, our field trip coordinator, for arranging this trip for us. We're looking forward to other trips this summer and fall.
- John Simmers, along with Ed Stuart, will gather information about a possible one day field trip to Piney River and Tye River (Nelson County) later this summer. They will let us know the type of terrain, accessibility, and the type of specimens that might be collected. More information later on this.
- Debbie noted that Ed has had no success with us going on a field trip to any operating mines at the present time. He is working on a possible fall trip to the closed Fauver mine in Vesuvius to collect iron ore and manganese. More info later.
- Cindy told us that the Tidewater club does field trips to a scout camp in that area. Specimens of Chesapecten can be collected, as well as shark's teeth and ocean fossils. They do a trip once or twice a year. Membership is $15. Info about the club - https://tgms.weebly.com/
ANNUAL SHOW SEPT 19TH TO SEPT 21ST:
- Jack stated that this is the first marketing meeting of the 57th annual Gem & Mineral Show. He brought advertising pads & fliers for our show in September. Members were asked to take some to local businesses - beauty shops, handy-man companies, landscapers, local shops, etc. He will be setting up ads on FaceBook as well. Word of mouth works great.
- Jack informed us that the vendor contracts are still in progress, and that approximately 40 vendors will be at the show. Scott, our show chairman, is busy trying to ensure that there is enough room for the vendors' tables. We use the smaller building for the club displays and demonstrations.
- Cindy said that we still have display cases for members to fill and bring to the show. We would like at least 25 cases this year! Jack sent me a link about doing display cases, which I have included below.
- Debbie reminded everyone that with all this advertising, 2000 to 3000 people might attend our show. We need lots of volunteers 🙋as we are using all 3 buildings at EXPO in Augusta county. She asked that everyone set aside some time to volunteer - beginning on Thursday, Sep 18 to Sunday Sep 21. We need people to assist vendors set up and take down. (We are paying EXPO this year to set up & take down the vendor tables.) We need people to help vendors keep an eye on their wares, give them breaks, take snacks and water to them, etc. We need ticket sellers and people to volunteer in our education booths, our sandbox for kids, and our treasure sluice.
- Charlie reminded everyone of the dinner that we will provide to the vendors on Friday night. The club provides baked chicken, drinks & paper goods. Members are requested to bring potluck food items. We need help setting up the meal and cleaning up afterward. Approximately 100 people will be eating.
I will send an email of needed volunteers/times, etc in a couple of weeks. Please consider helping make our 57th show a success! This is YOUR OPPORTUNITY to give back to the club for all the free 🆓 rocks, minerals, and fossils that have been donated
this year.....and for the no cost use of the shop and equipment. We would really like some of our newer members to join us in this fun endeavor! A lot of us older folks are not getting around as well as we used to. 😉
Here is the link from our website on how to do a display case. It's from 2012 but it's still relevant information.
https://www.shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org/svgms_member_login/members_area/svgms_show_display_info.html
THE FUTURE OF OUR CLUB:
The officers of SVGMS have been thinking about the future of our club. We have been around for over 60 years, and we want it to continue for another 60 and beyond.
Right now, our shop is in dire need of upgrades and a bigger space. We appreciate the church allowing us to have meetings here in Bridgewater, but this may not last forever.
As our club grows in membership, and as our show continues to be more successful, we need to make some serious plans and maybe some changes for our future.
The club would love to have its own land with a building that could be used for a shop, to hold our meetings, and perhaps a museum to display our treasures.
So here's a BOLD request - do any of you know of a piece of property (1/2 acre or so) and/or a fairly roomy old storage shed or garage that the club could purchase or rent that would be ours for the future? We are simply brainstorming right now, but it is something we need to seriously consider. Thanks for any input you may have!
Keep Rockin' along!
The shop will be open Saturday June 19 from 9 am to noon.
Your annual $10 dues for an individual or a family may be brought to any meeting or send a check written to SVGMS and mailed to: SVGMS Box 324 Waynesboro, VA 22980. {Most clubs charge by person and can be as high as $25; we are a bargain!}
Club Officers and Staff 2016-2025
President – Michael Pabst
President-Elect: Cynthia Schroer
Vice President Emeritus– Leo Cloutier
Educational Outreach -- Deborah Grimm
Secretary/Newsletter -- Deborah Grimm
Field Trip Coordinator - Ed Stuart
Co-Treasurers – Scott Gregory/Deborah Grimm
Show Team Leaders – Scott Gregory/Jack Glenn
Web Site Coordinator – Jack Glenn
Club web site: shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org
Club Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ShenandoahValleyGemMineralSociety
Club email: svgem-min-club@live.com