Upcoming rock shows at IX and
Berea Fairgrounds really shine
By Charles Cassady
happenings
Published April 27, 2005

Need evidence that Cleveland is worthy of a rock hall of fame? You need look no further than the I-X Center from May 6-8. Or the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds in Berea May 21-22. There will be rock shows like you won't believe. No music, but still rock shows.

Those dates are, in fact, when popular spring gem and mineral shows come to town, displaying to the public splendid examples of polished and rough stones, crystals, fossils, pearls, and sea shells. "Anything that comes out of the earth," said Bea Jordan, of the Parma Lapidary Club, the organization behind the Berea event.

"The gem show at the Berea fairgrounds is being put on completely by volunteers of the lapidary club..." she said. "We're just amateurs, but we have some very beautiful artists, that do very beautiful work."

Meanwhile, the extrava-gemza at the I-X Center is national in scope, featuring touring dealers with everything from diamonds and engagment rings to coral and fossilized trilobites.

Jordan, when not working for the Lapidary Club, can often be found at Rocks'n'Chips, on 7952 Lorain Ave. in Cleveland, the area motherload for rock hounds. Here can be found agates, geodes, jade, amethyst, gypsum and varieties of quartz. Stones can be found both rough and polished in rock tumblers, a careful smoothing process of several weeks with finer and finer grit, that brings out the glorious colors in certain minerals, which can then be admired in and of themselves, or be strung into beads or worked with silver and gold into jewelry or other crafts.

"A rockhound really likes to go out and hunt for these stones," said Jordan. "He brings them home and he plays with them. And what else do you do with them? Well, they like to go to craft shows. So they make jewelry and sell what they made, and that is a hobby that pays for itself. You don't make a lot of money, but it pays for itself, and that's good."

What wasn't good, however, was when gold prices in particular rose precipitously in the 1970s, putting the ore out of reach of many casual crafters. Some other lapidary shops in this area closed down as a result, said Jordan, but Rocks'n'Chips has survived.

Meanwhile, she said, patronage at the gem shows has remained constant - solid as a rock, you might say. In fact, she's surprised interest hasn't risen in the durable pastime, which is family-friendly and educational.

"Scouting groups come in. School groups come in. And we do have the Brunswick High School group that helps us. They will have a series of tables there; they will cut geodes and earn money for their rock-hounding trips."

What is favorite regional rock-hound destination, the place that deserves the title rock city? For Bea Jordan, it's Herkimer, N.Y., where limestone deposits millions of years ago, long before the dinosaurs, formed a type of fine quartz called Herkimer diamond. The Parma Lapidary Club has gone on occasional trips to quarry fine specimens in and around Herkimer, and the locality's lapidary shops and a "Petrified Creatures Museum" vie for the attentions of rock-minded tourists.

But what about local industry? "There are stones in Ohio - there's some calcite - but our big stone, the stone for the state of Ohio, is called flint. We go down and mine it in Flint Ridge, which is around the Zanesville/Newark area. There is a whole ridge of flint there...The flint there is of a very hard, very good quality. And the Indians from the neighboring states would come around to the Ohio flint ridge and barter for that flint, because it makes a really good arrowhead."

She said Ohio flint arrowheads will be on display and for sale at her club's fairgrounds show, where at least 22 out-of-down dealers have registered so far for the traditional third weekend in May. In addition there will be a special guest attraction. The Parma Lapidary Club is guest-hosting a life-size replica dinosaur skull of the resident Tyrannosaurus Rex specimen (nicknamed `Sue') on loan the Field Museum of Chicago. In past Parma Lapidary shows the VIPs have included NASA moon rocks. This year, said Jordan, they thought they'd do something a little different with Sue.

In addition there will be three prize drawings, one for a finished necklace, one for a fossil (not Sue), and one for a prime rock specimen. For more information on the Parma Lapidary Club and its show, phone (216) 398-4841; dealer information, phone (216) 381-9003. For more on the I-X Center show, prospect online at www.intergem.net. Rocks'n'Chips can be phoned at (216) 281-0624.

As they say in that other rock field, dig, baby, dig.