HOWLING AND CELEBRATING TUCSON 2026

 

Just howlin’ at the moon celebrating Tucson 2026.

There really is not a good way to describe the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show (the official show) except to say mind boggling and overpowering.

A view of the main floor of the Convention Center from the second floor Micromount Playroom.

My best estimate is that well over 300 vendor and display “booths” were created and occupied, most on the main floor and a large side room. The vendors had the traditional tables and display cases while the displays were set up in the types of cases one sees at most mineral shows. The major difference is that many of the cases are large (longer) than most traditional show cases. The displays were created by a multitude of rock and mineral clubs, companies, and individuals. There are a number of “Best XXX Awards” given out each year and cases often try to display minerals that correspond to the yearly theme, the 2026 Red, White & Blue—A Celebratory & Patriotic Feast.

The Tucson Show is held during the second week of February, Thursday through Sunday, at the Tucson Convention Center, a large building in the center of downtown. Ten-dollar parking has gone by the wayside and has jumped to $15. Unfortunately, “payment to the parking attendant in the booth” has also disappeared and a much longer and more complicated smart phone system is now in place.  Admission to the show is $15 with discounts for children and seniors (one day only). Several “gem show shuttles” operate an established schedule haul participants from outlying venues and motels to the Center.

The organization Friends of Mineralogy hosts a symposium on Saturday and Sunday mornings with a variety of presentations including:

·       John Stuart McCloy, Cuprorivaite: Egyptian Blue, humanity’s first inorganic pigment.

·       Johan Maertens, Heaven and Hell in Ohio [about Celestine].

·       Donald A. Dallaire, New Hampshire’s Red, White & Blue Minerals.

·       John Rakovan, Pleochroism in minerals.

·       Markus Raschke, An ocean within – new insights into structure and phases of water in minerals.

·       Bruce Kelley, Finding Art in Minerals: How an interest in color and form ignited my passion for minerals.

·       John Stuart McCloy, Cuprorivaite: Egyptian Blue, humanity's first inorganic pigment.

·       Johan Maertens, Heaven and Hell in Ohio [about Celestine.

·       Donald Dallaire, New Hampshire's Red, White & Blue Minerals,

·       John Rakovan, Pleochroism in Minerals.

·       Markus Raschke, An Ocean Within – New Insights into Water in Minerals.

The Author Roe Memorial Micromount Symposium was held on Friday morning with the following three presentations:

·       Museums, Minerals and Micromounts by Nadine Gabriel (via Zoom from Mineralogy at the Natural History Museum, London).

·       Minerals of the Chilean Mineralogical Expedition, Sam Gordon and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia by Patrick E. Haynes.

Type Mineralogy of Oregon: History, Revisions, and Puzzles by Julian C. Gray.

·      

After the Symposium micromounters flocked back to the playroom to swap and identify micros.

This great display with red, white and blue minerals was put together by members of the Young Mineral Collectors.

 

 

 

Each year I am fascinated by the displays of native silver, most of which comes from the mines at Kongsberg, Norway) producing for 350+ years).

As for colored crystals it is easy for me to pick this beryl variety aquamarine from Goand Mine, Skardu, Pakistan.

What a thrill for an ole paleontologist to hoist a mammoth tusk (Alaska).

And I leave you with two contrasting photos: Mexican Poppies from my temp home in Tucson, and my back yard in Wisconsin.