1/20/25 MBRGC General Meeting
7 pm, Pioneer Pavilion, Ferndale, WA
Meeting called to order by President Michael Langley. He addressed the club and told us about the desire to increase attendance and participation so that “10% are not doing 90% of work.”
Raffle: Wanda, Elliot, Ken were our guests and are all winners, congrats! Gretchen, Steven are new members who also took away a prize. Melody won a $25 club gift certificate for our mall store.
Secretary Report (Trevor): shared info about upcoming shows in the area. Shared the phone number to the mall shop: 564-565-0840, which should be used to inform of last-minute cancellations, etc. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL THE CLUB FOR REAL-TIME INQUIRIES OR UPDATES, AS IT MAY NOT BE SEEN IN TIME. PLEASE CALL THE STORE TO SPEAK TO A VOLUNTEER.
Treasurer (Ralph): went over income and expenses for December. Discussed possible 2-day RRR event in September. 2024 was a good year for the club, it was our best RRR to date. Thank you in advance for helping to spread the word about our show. In 2024, the club purchased (3) 8″ Cabking machines, and one was donated for a total of (4) new 8″ machines in the lap room.
Federation (Mike): Updates are now made online, printed newsletter being discontinued. Next annual show is in Wala Wala, WA.
If you are interested in purchasing tools or equipment from Kingsley North, please use our affiliate link on the website HERE, (which gives the club credit for the referral.)
Upcoming mineral council field trips:
https://mineralcouncil.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/fieldtrips_2025.pdf which can be found HERE.
02/22 – Cedar Ponds for jasper and fossils
03/08 – Cherry Creek for jasper
04/12 – Saddle Mt for petrified wood
05/10 – Racehorse Creek for fossils and morel mushrooms
05/24 – Wild Turkey mine for Noble serpentine
Local Field Trips: TBD, club offers a $50 stipend to members who host a field trip within Whatcom or Skagit Counties. (Local trips are members-only for liability/insurance purposes.)
2025 Show Chair Update (Candi):
- The show is coming up FAST! Online volunteer sign-ups coming soon, Todd will have more info about Sign-up Genius at our next meeting, as well as below… In the meantime, volunteers can sign up on the clipboards at the next meeting. Stations that need volunteers: Silent Auction, Spinning Wheel, Raffle Tix, Load/unload truck, Door Greeters, Club Sales, etc.
- We also need more tumbled rocks / painted rocks / rock “critters” for the kids prizes. The club will purchase some higher-end prizes to incent raffle ticket sales.
- For load/unload: Meet at the Gerard’s at 9 am Friday, March 28. Load into UHAUL tables, rocks, equipment etc. to bring to the Pavilion. Unloading will happen Monday, March 31st.
- Adult and kid silent auctions approximately every 15 minutes.
- Display cases – 20-25 will need to be filled. We will provide a demonstration at the March meeting.
“Please use the SignUpGenius application to add/modify/delete your volunteering schedule for the club’s March rock and gem show. Using this application will produce email reminders of your signups, let others see where vacancies exist, and help the show chairpersons as they organize the event. Although the signup form has numerical limits for each task, don’t think that you can’t help out if a task is “full”. You can sign up as an Alternate for tasks during the show and fill in where needed. Some tasks, like Welcome Table and Club Sales, can benefit from more than two volunteers during the busiest times. Having lots of hands for the set-up and tear-down tasks are essential.
Go to the SignUpGenius form at Rock & Gem Show 2025 to sign up with your name, email address, and optionally your phone number.
If you signed up on the paper sheets at the January meeting, please go to the application and enter your slots so that no one else gets them.”
Matt Sisco gave a brief presentation about the Wild Turkey Serpentine Mine in Valley, WA. Thanks, Matt!
<Break, snacks>
Show ‘n’ tell: Members shared examples of their favorite fossil or mineral.
Theme for February, 17 meeting: Amethyst or Quartz
minutes submitted by Trevor Duncan, club secretary