The Raft River Rockhounds, together with the BC Lapidary Club, hosted Rendezvous 2012 on May 18 to 21, at the North Thompson Sportsplex. Approximately 170 people came from all over B.C. and Alberta for the event.
A Friday evening pot luck dinner was held for members of the 36 clubs in British Columbia. On Saturday morning field trips began early in the morning with a trip to Dunn Creek/Dunn Lake Road looking for Geo’s/Fossils.
The second field trip was to to Birch Island/Mine in search of quartz, galena and drill core; and the third field trip was to Eakin Creek, gold panning on Dan Arnold’s claim. Unfortunately the creek was too high due to the warm weather. The fourth field trip was into beautiful Wells Gray Park, (home of the waterfalls) “Falls, Fossils and Volcanoes”.
Thank you to Sharon and Arn Hamelin for the books, Kamerovich Originals from Calgary, Imperial Metals/ Ruddock Creek Mine, and Lynsay McCracken for building a photo shot for the Raft River Rockhounds. The display cases and the demonstrators were well received.
The Saturday evening finished off with the Rock Auction, with thanks to Harley, Livia and Walt from the Richmond Club. Unfortunately, we did have a power outage in the North Thompson Valley, and so Walt moved it from the Sportsplex to outside.
Sunday morning started off with field trips, and then on to the Bucket Raffle Auction and dinner, held at the Clearwater Valley Resort/KOA, What a fabulous dinner buffet, thank you Dave and Anna. Our Guest of honour was Barry Banford, Town Councilor who welcomed everyone to Clearwater.
Monday morning finished the Rendezvous off with a great breakfast buffet, also at the at the Clearwater Valley Resort/KOA.
Our Club is only two years old, and I am very proud of what we accomplished. I would like to thank all of the wagon masters, Irene Roach, Marj Sunderman, and Joan Slingsby for being at the Sportsplex with me for the whole weekend.
All of the baking that was donated from the Club and local businesses, the District of Clearwater for donating a portion of the rental of the Sportsplex, and to all the staff that worked the long weekend. The KOA for the great rates on camping. Thank you to anyone I missed.
We are now gearing up for our Canada Day Club Show, July 1, which is going to be a multi cultural event, We have the Spirit Bear Village, numerous vendors, food from around the world, gold panning demonstrations, rock paintings, Find the Treasures, a silent auction, live music and much more. If you would like to book a table, or for more information, please call, Fay McCracken 250-674-2700 or email: raftriverrockhounds@gmail.com
* Submitted by:
Fay McCracken,
chairperson/treasurer,
Raft River Rock Hounds