50th Annual N.C. Mineral & Gem Festival July 30 to August 2

Story by Corinne Saunders

Customers browse the tables at the annual N.C. Mineral & Gem Festival in Spruce Pine. This year’s festival takes place Thursday to Sunday, July 30 to August 2. Photo submitted

The 50th annual N.C. Mineral & Gem Festival will be held at the Pinebridge Coliseum in Spruce Pine from Thursday to Sunday, July 30 to August 2.

Organized by the Mitchell County Chamber of Commerce and supported by about 100 community volunteers, the festival runs from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Thursday to Saturday and from 12:30 to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. 

Fifty-three vendors will set up their wares on 250 tables, said Pati Jenson, festival director and director of tourism at Mitchell County’s Chamber of Commerce.

“Some dealers actually have 10 tables,” she said, adding that the show includes “everything from sterling silver and diamonds to fossils.”

Vendors from all across the country will bring loose gemstones, beads, finished jewelry, large crystals and large minerals such as amethyst. One dealer specializes in fossils, and others are custom designers who will work on specifically requested rings or other jewelry.

Each year, “people come specifically for their engagement rings, for Christmas presents and [for] anniversary gifts,” Jenson said.

A lecture series will run from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, with different speakers on the hour. Ira Thomas and Matt Housley will discuss local mining history and noted gemologist Jerry Call will speak on gem faceting. Other featured speakers include mining authors, local gem mine owners and National Park Service Rangers.

The festival began as a “rock swap” in the 1950s, growing to an official, publicized event in 1959, Jenson said.

“In the early years, a group of citizens and volunteers worked on it. There were no hotels then. There are not that many now. When people came into town for the show, people would take them into their homes,” she said, adding that locals cooked meals at the high school for everyone who came.

Charlie May Sproles, a dedicated volunteer who recently passed away at age 97, directed the festival for 25 years, Jenson said. “She made it what it is today. She traveled the country and handpicked dealers,” Jenson added.

Admission to the festival is $3 per person, but on Thursday, senior citizens can attend for $1 and on Sunday, Mitchell County residents can attend for $1.

A Rock Hop Street Dance will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, July 31, in downtown Spruce Pine. The dance features live bluegrass music by the Wisemans and is free to the public.

Mine tours will be offered on Friday and Saturday nights and preregistration is required. Pine Mountain only opens to the public in conjunction with the annual festival. Tourgoers are invited to bring buckets or bags to this mine that boasts quartz, micah and feldspar, in addition to its main attraction—hyalite opal.

“When you shine black light on it, it glows in the dark,” Jenson said.

Pine Mountain mine tours cost $20 per person or $10 for children under 10.

Emerald Village will also host mine tours, and the public can tour its mining history museum, as well. One of the orginal Bon Ami cleanser mines, Emerald Village “has a lot of different types of minerals that fluoresce,” Jenson said. “Where they use shortwave ultraviolet light, [the minerals] glow red and green and, I think, blue.”

Emerald Village mine tours cost $10 per person or $7.50 for kids and seniors.

Progress Energy, Unimin Mine, Carolina First Bank, McDonald’s, Western Sizzlin, Pine Valley Motel, Country Cablevision, French Broad Electric, Piedmont Natural Gas, Imery's Mine, United Community Bank, Walmart and the Town of Spruce Pine sponsor the festival.

For more information, call 828-765-9033 or click to www.ncgemfest.com.

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