Tucson

I had a day to do laundry and pack for the return to Tucson to be a dealer in the TGMS show.  The first load of laundry was in the machine when the power went out.  As the next hour or so went by, the outages increased and the only explanation from the power company was it was likely due to the storm.  Being that we are in a rural area, it has in the past it has been a day or more before we have power restored.  We have a generator — but it refused to start.

So plans changed.  I packed for the coming week, loaded the car and headed south to LA where my daughter lives.  It was a miserable drive down US 101 in the rain..  Fortunately there were not that many others crazy enough to be out driving in the storm so I could usually keep lots of space between my car and other vehicles.  And the majority of the other drivers were being as cautious in their driving as I was.

Laundry done and a head start for the rest of the drive, accompanied  by my daughter who had been drafted to help at the show, I started out the next day for Tucson.  It rained until we were past Palm Springs.  Unlike the previous day, there was a lot of traffic. First it was just the normal LA traffic, and then more and more of it was big trucks going long distances on I-10.  It was a good feeling when I finally saw familiar Tucson landmarks and got to check in at our hotel.

The next day after I picked up our credentials at the Tucson Convention Center, the storm caught up with us.  The wind was powerful enough to move the orange barricades used in the parking lot and carried small bits that stung exposed skin.  It was the last day for the motel shows on the other side of the freeway and the storm caused some of those in more exposed outside spaces to pack up early.

The weather was definitely the significant feature of the week.   Wednesday morning was set up time.  We were lucky that there was a pause in the precipitation while we hauled things into the building.  As we were heading back to the car after the booth was set up,  a few drops of rain fell.  No sooner than we got in the car, the skies opened.  I decided, to just sit there and wait hoping the cloud burst would go as quickly as it came.  And then the sound of the storm got a lot louder. It was hail!  All we could do was sit there and laugh until it passed (and try to take a few photos of the hail on the windshield).

Thursday morning the show opened to the public.   The ballroom where we were located was opened at 9:30 while the big exhibition hall did not open until 10.  It wasn’t the out-the-door first day crowd I experienced as a visitor to the show pre-pandemic.  As the day went on people trickled through the ballroom.  Some of the other dealers complained that a lot of people just did not realize there were more dealers in the ballroom and only went to the exhibition hall downstairs.  It was interesting that most of the sales that day were cash sales.  We had done okay.  Enough excess cash to make a deposit in the bank before heading to the hotel and then out to dinner.

Friday the show opened at 9am for local school children to visit the show and participate in special educational programs.  The show dealer chair took note of the complaints about traffic to the ballroom and for the remainder of the show, the hourly announcements included mention of  more dealers in the ballroom.  That did seem to help bring more traffic.  Of course, there wasn’t all that much I had to offer for the kids to purchase so the increase in people coming by did not help overall sales.  The major difference was that on Friday, more of the sales were using credit cards rather than cash.

Saturday morning started with more rain and a much bigger crowd in line to enter the show.  However, our sales did not reflect that increase.  There were actually fewer sales and only two stones not from the $50 and under boxes.  Only one of the sales was a cash sale.  So the day was a bit disappointing.  Lots of people came by and admired what was on display, but they were not buying.  I was getting the feeling that the most of the people who would be interested in the gems I had to offer had already left Tucson.

As expected, Sunday was slow.  It was also Super Bowl Sunday, so there was extra completion for the public’s attention and our sales reflected that. As a result, I had a chance to make a quick tour of the exhibition hall.   Several of the dealers were already packing well before the 4pm official show closing.  Tear down always goes faster than set up and it wasn’t long before we had everything back in the car and were heading to the hotel.

Monday morning we started for home. This time the trip was a very long but uneventful drive in good weather.

Tucson 2024 was history.

Tucson 2024 started out much like my past few visits.  Everything was packed and ready to go the night before leaving home as I had a 6AM Saturday morning flight out of San Luis Obispo.  In Phoenix Sky Harbor airport I had the usual hike between terminals for the subsequent short flight to Tucson.  My seat was far in the back of the plane, so by the time I got to the baggage area my suitcase was already on the carrousel.  The rental car started out as a bit of a challenge.  The garage was very dark and since I saw only a key fob and tag on what was handed me, I thought it might be a keyless model.  Eventually, when I moved towards the garage entrance where there was enough light, I discovered that the key was tucked into the fob.

After locating acceptable fast food for lunch, I headed to the freeway show area, parked in a $5 lot and headed for the Ramada hotel and New Era at the Pueblo show.  On my initial trip to Tucson in 1987, New Era was my first stop.  I had been getting rough from Steve since I started faceting and New Era had a page of classified ads in Lapidary Journal.  So It just seems right to start off Tucson at the New Era spot.

For the remainder of the afternoon I did a quick tour of the Pueblo show, stopping to talk with a few dealers I knew from past years.  Then crossed to the other side of the I-10 freeway to the 22nd Street show for a walk around the huge tent as well as the “showcase” tent.  Eventually it was late enough so I could head to my hotel to check in and get settled for the stay.

Sunday morning I headed to the JOGS show, hoping I would be there early enough to avoid the horrible parking situation they typically have.  No such luck.  In the past couple years, I found some rough and saw material that might be appropriate for recutting.  As with the parking, no luck with those this year.  On the other hand, there was no shortage of parking at the G&LW show where I went next.  They had less empty space compared to last year, but the merchandise was pretty much the same.  I don’t know why I  keep going there!

Then it was off to RMGM show to catch up with John Garsow and check out what he had to offer in the way of rough material.  John was another dealer I have known since my 1987 visit.  He had some new rough as well as old material from estates that worked.  Last year the RMGM test was freezing when I visited it.  This year Tucson was having some comfortable temperatures in the high 70’s and low 80’s which made shopping a whole lot nicer. Finally it was time to wrap up the day at the Ethical Gem Suppliers Happy hour.

Monday was the day for going through the freeway shows — besides 22nd street and Pueblo, there is the GIGM show in three motels along the frontage road.  Almost immediately I ran into a friend from the SLO Gem and Mineral Club.  As I worked my way to the next motel, I came across another local, a dealer who does many club and commercial shows.  It seems that not much changes in the motel shows from one year to another.  Occasionally one dealer will be replaced by another, but on the whole nothing of note from one year to the next.

The 22nd street show is a bit harder to pin down — it is just so huge.  While the dealers in the showcase tent tend to be returning year after year,  it seemed to be much less so in the main tent.  In fact the tent itself grew since 2023.  There were several dealers who had many paper plates full of rough.  They had varying qualities but I remained unconvinced that I was seeing anything that was the size and quality combination that I needed.

Tuesday was the opening day for AGTA and GJX.  Unlike previous years there was no line to pick up credentials for entry into the AGTA.  Either they had gotten a lot more efficient at checking folks in or else the attendance was down.  I met up with my friend, Julie, and we spent the day there and across the street at the GJX show.  Neither seemed as crowded as I felt they were in past years — which is nice for the shopper, but possibly not so good for the dealers.  In addition to a second pair of bamboo tweezers (non-reflective, non-scratching and not effected by acetone) I bought a small bird carving from Peter Muller — the first souvenir I ever got from my Tucson visits.

That evening was the GemologyOnline.com meet up dinner.  It was a small group, but as usual excellent exchange of information and an opportunity to put faces with names from the forum.

Wednesday was rough shopping day.  After a couple of purchases from AGTA dealers, I caught part of Tucson Todd’s faceting demonstration and then a seminar on CAD for jewelry design.  Then across the freeway to New Era rooms for a visit with Steve and picking out a selection of tourmalines.  Thursday was another day for 22nd street (confirming my opinion of the rough from the previous pass) and then Justin Prim’s demonstration of recutting a windowed stone followed by his presentation about the history of faceting in the US.

Friday was my day to go to the US Faceters Guild Symposium for a series of speakers.  Afterwards it was time to pack up in preparation to returning home the next morning.  I realized that I had forgotten to take photos of the shows, but it was too late at that point.

The flights returning home went smoothly as a series of storms were approaching the California coast.  I was in my home about ten minutes before the rain started.  The weather would complicate the next part of the Tucson 2024 adventure.  (more to come)

 

 

 Day 8 Thursday

Thursday morning was warmer than the previous days and the sky was cloudy. Steve convinced a few of his New Era Gems staff to join the Sentinel Peak walk.  Ryan brought his drone and demonstrated its capabilities when we reached the base of the “A”. It was tiny and he put it though maneuvers that were like a mechanical hummingbird. Then he showed some of the other features which were equally impressive.

TGMS Show

The Tucson Gem and Mineral Club show opened at 10AM. By the time I got near at 10:30, the convention center parking had almost no spaces left and there were long lines to buy entry tickets. I first went into the ballroom off the main hallway. The quality of the material the vendors there were showing was not like your typical club show items. It reminded me of what the InterGem shows were like when I first went to those in the early 1980’s (before they turned into mostly bead shows.)

In the back row of the ballroom, I found the UltraTec booth. Robert Mendoza was there showing the machines and I had the opportunity to ask a couple questions about my fantasy machine as well as show him some samples of I had accomplished with the Fantasy machine in the past few months.

Then down to the main hall. Like the AGTA show there, it was huge and the items in the vendor cases were upscale. There was very little in the lower end of the mineral, gem, etc. market that one typically finds at a club show. Towards the center of the room were the displays from club members.  Also there were exhibits from the Smithsonian, the GIA and similar institutions.  This was definitely not your average club show!

It seemed that the front side of the room had gems and jewelry vendors. Towards the other side were the mineral vendors. Quite a few of them were in tall display cabinets and one could easily feel you were looking at a museum exhibit. Of course the prices for those pieces were not for the faint of heart and light of wallet. Three zeros before the decimal point was not unusual where prices were actually shown.

 

As afternoon progressed dark clouds got darker and by evening we were having some rain showers.

 

Day 9 Friday – Packing Up

Friday was the last day of the adventure. The morning started with additional rain showers.  These eventually went away and blue skies eventually broke through for a short time midday.

It was time to sort through things, make sure the suitcases would hold everything for the return trip, and take one last trip around the area. The official time for the Pueblo show was over and most of the vendors there were packing up.  Quite a few vendors in some of the other freeway shows were also closed that day.