Katie Lankers of Aurora admits she’s a fan of jewelry and precious stones and looks forward to coming to a local show where all of that is on display. “I’ve been coming here the past five years and I have bought some petrified swamp bogwood – it’s a beautiful piece of green and blue rock that’s very swirly,” Lankers said as she stood in line outside a gem show at the Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles Saturday morning.
“Whenever I come here I never go home empty-handed. There’s a bunch of other rock weirdos here like me and it’s fun.” The Kane County Fairgrounds was aglow with gems, minerals, jewelry and more over the weekend as the Chicagoland Gems and Minerals Association held its 47th annual show Saturday and Sunday.
This year’s show, dubbed “Planet of the Rocks,” was an unintentional nod to the new “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” movie, an organizer said. “We come up with a new title every year. The fact that the show this year sort of mimics the newly-released movie was just a coincidence,” said show chair and organizer Mark Kuntz, 78, of Elgin.
This year’s show featured 35 retail dealers as well as six wholesalers. Kuntz emphasized the Gems and Minerals Association doesn’t represent the corporate or high-end business sector. “We’re a non-profit and a consortium of local clubs that aren’t big enough to host a regional show,” said Kuntz.
“I was a geology teacher who is now retired. This is not a flea market. These .