August 2022 Program Information
August 2022 Program
Several key topics provided our program for the evening:Topic 1: Mike Papst, our president, introduced Elizabeth Johnson, a professor at JMU, to share information about the JMU mineral museum. She has done studies of Mole Hill, worked with a geologist at CALTech, and even got to study the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian! She and Eric Pyle, another JMU geology professor, are now in charge of the museum. They are working on cataloging & storing the vast amount of minerals there, and overseeing visits to the museum.
Here are new hours for public visitation - Mon, Wed, & Fri from 1-4 pm and the 2nd Saturday of the month 1-4 pm. If you have never been, it is actually one of the premier mineral museums in the USA. Go to the website for pics and more information: https://www.jmu.edu/mineralmuseum. There is also a video describing an extraordinary mineral collection that has been donated to the museum here.
Thanks, Elizabeth (and your husband, Steve), for taking the time to visit with us.
Topic 2: Mike has been representing our club at the annual EFMLS convention. I sent out an email about the convention on Sunday, Aug. 7th. The convention is in Harrisburg, PA, September 23-25. He is inviting any club member to go and represent us. (You can be reimbursed for your expenses by the club). If you would like to go, and have any questions, please contact Mike at michaeljpabst@yahoo.com. The EFMLS covers our insurance and allows us to use their ZOOM platform. We pay annual dues to them.
Topic 3: Thomas Hale of the Friends of Mineralogy VA Chapter and the Virginia Mineral Project has finally completed part one of the book on Northern Virginia Trap Rock Quarries. He will be at our show with lots of educational materials, and will be selling his book as well. Please see Mike at the show if you would like a copy.
Topic 4: Scott gave us an update on the show. He has confirmed 35 vendors and 230 tables!!!! [Updated 8/28/22 - Ed.] We've come a long way since the first show with 8 tables at a middle school in Waynesboro!) We will have TV ads on Channel 29 and Channel 3 the week of the show, with spots during the Today Show, Wheel of Fortune and the nightly news. We also have ads on MeTV and WHSV.com, as well as the Community Calendar. Rock and Gem magazine has published our notice as well. Jack has shared info on FaceBook and we are asking everyone to share that.
We always provide a meal for our vendors on Friday night. Scott has ordered chicken, but needs a volunteer to pick it up in Waynesboro around 5:30 to bring it to EXPO. Club members are asked to bring an entree, dessert and drinks.
A Boy Scout troop will be offering drinks and snacks to the public this year. The club is buying the items; the Scouts will reimburse us the cost, and they can keep the profits. Scott no longer has a truck, and will need someone to take the drinks and snacks to the show. We need club members to loan coolers to keep the drinks cold - there is ice for us to use in the building.
Jack also talked about promoting the show. Please put out your yard signs & use the car magnets from now to the show. Fliers/show pads can be placed in beauty salons, car dealerships, breweries, wineries, gift shops..... any place that the public gathers. He reminded us to pick up a display case at the shop this Saturday 9 am to noon. Please replace any glass tops with thin Plexiglass - the club will reimburse you.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!!! We are using both the large and small rooms at EXPO this year. Only a few members have signed up to help. We will need at least 50 people at various times to ensure that this will be the best and biggest show ever!! Please consider helping, even if only a couple of hours on one of the days. Thursday is setting up the tables in both rooms - we'll begin around 9 am and hopefully will be done by 1 pm. The vendors set up as early as 7 am on Friday morning, and some of them need help - we even have one vendor from Nebraska! Sunday evening is a very busy time - we need helpers to assist the vendors closing down & loading up. We also need to put away all the tables, and clean the floors.
During the show, we need people to collect money for tickets ($4 adults/ $3 students & senior citizens - CASH only). Volunteers will wear a lanyard to identify them as helpers - if you have yours from last year, please bring it. Some of our vendors work alone, and will need bathroom breaks, or time to get some food. We are asking all volunteers to be watch dogs, but not to confront anyone. If you see something unusual, please speak discreetly to the vendor. We need help with the sluice & the sandbox for the youth. Charlie & Michelle will be busy doing demos the entire show, Jack, Jilly, & Larry will be vendors. These folks will need breaks as well.
For those of you that have not been to our show before (or maybe in a while), the club now has a Shenandoah Valley Gem & Mineral Society Youtube channel and our initial video is a review/preview of our show. Check it out here!