June 2008 Cayucos Gem & Mineral Show

I had wanted to be in the June Cayucos Gem & Mineral Show hosted by the San Luis Obispo Gem & Mineral Club (SLOGMC) since I first got into this business in 2006.
This year I finally got my wish.
Dr. Bob and Helen Olson of Nature's Collectibles decided not to do this show anymore which created an opening for our K&K Earthwerks (yeah, I STILL don't have a website but that will change by the end of the year I hope).
Consequently, we got their old spot which in my judgment is the best location at the show so I was delighted, although disappointed that Dr. Bob would not be bringing his usual gaggle of Elmwood minerals not to mention cool mineral and gem inlaid boxes for me to drool over.

My business partner Mike Lyons and my girlfriend and myself all showed up in the first half of the day Friday, June 13th.
Mike beat us there and as an officer of SLOGMC (field trip coordinator) he helped the club get the show set up for the dealers.
We ambled in later than we had planned missing that part and got right into our set-up which went reasonably smoothly.

That afternoon I received a phone call from my mother who was over in Atascadero.
She reported that the Indians Fire was going nuclear and producing some incredible pyrocumulous clouds and advised us to see if we could see them from Cayucos.
We went outside and down to the main street running through Cayucos and looked up to the northwest and were flabbergasted at the scene we beheld: towering thunderstorm clouds coming up out of and looming over the header from the Indians Fire.
We were frustrated we had business to attend to and could not go up to Fort Hunter Liggett at that time to photograph them.

Late in the afternoon when we were well into our set-up we actually got some business from a vacationing Aussie couple who saw one of the show signs and knowing they would not be in the area Saturday and Sunday decided to check out the show before it officially opened.

By late afternoon we were finished with set-up and headed back home to Atascadero.

It was good to see some of our friends from amongst the other dealers setting up, to wit: Kirk Brock of Rock Solid Jade, Becky Richter of Rocks & Relics (David wasn't there this time), Richard and Cheryl Sittinger of Wonderworks, Gary and Janice Robertson of Gary's Jewelry & Lapidary Supplies, Bob Backus of Bob Backus Lapidary, and Rima Lieben and Les Reichek of Mendocino Reflections.

Club member Dan Manion, who produces the club newsletter stayed the night at the show venue (Vet's Hall in Cayucos, CA, by the pier) Friday night.

We got their Saturday morning and finished up our set-up and by show opening were pretty much ready.
There was some confusion as to if the show began at 9 AM or 10 AM as the show flier claimed the earlier time while some promotional efforts by Richard Sittinger showed the latter.

A consensus of the dealers was in favor of moving opening time both days to 10 AM but staying open until 6 PM on Saturday and closing 5 PM on Sunday.
I like that as a dealer myself and will promote that internally in the club for all our June shows, but don't know about the October as it is getting dark by then that time of year and let's be honest, Cayucos is not a night life type of place.

Saturday started ineradicably and remained thus throughout the day with more quietude than I've ever seen in the June Show and I've been there many times in past years as simply a buyer or last year when I did security for the show.
The confusion about when the show began contributed to the slow start and things did pick up around 10 AM but not nearly enough.

At the end of the show day the doors were closed and after the last customers had ambled out a pot luck barbecue was fired up which all the dealers and some club members partook in.
We had a grand old time.
Mike, myself, Kirk Brock, and Andy DeLong's wife shared a table and later Andy joined us, too.
I've never laughed harder as Kirk and Mrs. DeLong bantered back and forth and then it got better when Andy joined the fray.

We left Show Chair Diane Deem behind as she volunteered to spend the night at the venue.

We headed home for the day and after getting caught up on emails and watching an episode of Battlestar Galactica Season Three on DVD we crashed exhausted.

We were able to saunter in a bit later on Sunday morning as we were all done setting up.
The show doors opened at 9 AM and very early on it was clear today was going to be different than yesterday and in a good way.
It didn't hurt things that Mike Lyons bought from me a gorgeous Sikhote-Alin meteorite from my personal collection that he had been coveting ever since he saw it.
I needed the cash so it worked out for both of us.
Even without that things picked up from the previous day.
This was due in no small part to foot traffic picking up earlier than the previous day and the visitors we were getting were more enthusiastic buyers.
This lasted throughout the day which somewhat salvaged the show for us.
Things we busy enough that we didn't really break down our booth in earnest until about 5 PM.
Said breakdown went smoothly and quickly and we had time leftover to help other vendors break down and then clean up the venue for our club and get back home to Atascadero before dark.
I have no frame of reference as to how well the show was for me as I have no history in this particular show although I've been a dealer in the October Cayucos Gem and Mineral Show the previous two years.
I'm reasonably happy with our success the first time out here although it coulda, shoulda, woulda been better had the show been better promoted.

Obviously, I'm disappointed for everybody else that things didn't go better but I'm very excited about the future of the show and what we will accomplish in improving things for our upcoming October show and then next year's June show.
This was the first time in years that our club put on this show without any input or assistance from former club president but still current member Bob Hurless who along with his lovely wife Sandie live part of the year in Idaho now (guess which part of the year?).

Oh did it show!

We as a club failed to get done all the things that needed to be done to adequately promote the show combined with factors out of our control such as the current economic distress along with a rumored Cal Poly Graduation last Saturday (I know not if that is truth or myth).
We can't do a lick about the latter but we sure as heck can and will do much, much better on the former starting with our next club show this coming October.
That is a promise I make to all the dealers who will be in it as well as to those who won't be back until next June's show.
Most of our dealer's business was down by a third or more.
I already have a lot of ideas about this I picked up from various folks over the course of the show and will continue to collect more from other dealers and show organizers and club members.
By the way, we are now selling minerals on eBay and invite everybody to come check out our online selections here:

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZrockgeek805QQfrppZ50QQfsopZ32QQfsooZ2QQrdZ0

Our next show will be the Nipomo Rock & Mineral Show which will be held at St. Joseph's Catholic Church on South Thompson Avenue in Nipomo, CA, August 1-3, 2008.
We are branching out into lapidary rough following a recent purchase an old collection of lapidary rough to go along with our minerals and gems and jewelry.