Want to get up close to a moving velociraptor? It’s just part of this Turlock show

It may be called a rock and gem show, but there’s much more to see – and to get your hands on – coming up in the Modesto region.

The Turlock Rock & Gem Show is set to mark its 60th year on March 14-15 at the Stanislaus County Fairground. It’s put on by the nonprofit Mother Lode Mineral Society.

In two buildings and drawing up to 8,500 people each year, it’s become the second-largest event held at the grounds, next to the county fair itself, according to Terry McMillin, community service officer for the mineral society.

Of that draw, about 4,000 are children of all ages, she said.

“We manage to do very well turning this into a family educational event. We want kids to touch things” because that’s how they learn, McMillin said. There’s a “touch and see exhibit” that’s 32 feet long.

Among those touch and see options are: real fossils and replicas that can be held, with others on exhibit; megalodon teeth replicas, with real ones on display; dinosaur claw replicas; marine fossils; and a variety of rocks and crystals.

That’s not even mentioning a moving velociraptor, which always gathers a crowd, McMillin said. The animated dinosaur pops in at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. both days.

The velociraptor remains in one area as long as it takes to give every child a chance to pet or touch the faux dinosaur, she said, usually about an hour each time.

“This velociraptor is great, we bring (him) down from Oregon,” she said of the person who owns and wears the costume.

“He’s wonderful ... he has a new costume this year, so we’re really excited,” McMillin said.

Much to see and do

There’s plenty to keep kids busy and entertained – while also being educated.

“It’s so much fun walking around and seeing these kids,” McMillin said. “We’ve tried to set the show up so it’s a learning experience where the kids don’t realize they’re learning.”

Unique this year is a fluorescent room designed with about 12 cases of rocks and flashing lights that change and rotate. “The colors are just brilliant,” McMillin said.

The fluorescent rocks look dull until the lights come on, she said. It’s constantly staffed and designed so that no fluorescent light touches on people.

Along with rocks, minerals and fossils, there will be demonstrations, rock sales, geode cutting, gold panning, jewelry and more, according to a flyer for the event.

There will be 55 exhibitors this year, and all the dealers go through an “audition” to ensure they will allow children to touch what they have on display, McMillin said.

Also available will be a food court with items for purchase.

A club and show with longevity

The Mother Lode Mineral Society has been around since in the 1930s, according to McMillin. Yet it’s never actually existed in the Mother Lode region.

The club was launched by a teacher at Modesto High School for students who wanted to get together to hunt for rocks, she said. They took their trips to the Mother Lode for collecting and “rockhounding,” hence the name.

But it’s always been a Modesto group. Now, monthly meetings are held at Tuolumne River Lodge, according to the club website, with programs “on fossils, geology and florescent minerals for our junior and regular members, as well as participating in regularly scheduled field trips to seek out and collect rocks, minerals and fossils.”

The gem and mineral shows have been held since the 1940s, starting at Davis High School. While that decade would suggest an anniversary of much longer than 60 years, there have been years when shows were not held, McMillan said.

The rock and gem show is scheduled for March 14-15, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days at the county fairgrounds, 900 N. Broadway in Turlock. Admission is $8, free to ages 12 and under with a paid adult. For more, see motherlodemineralsociety.com.

It’s an event with plenty of items for sale appealing to all ages, with a focus on making the younger set happy, according to McMillin.

“Kids like rocks and crystals,” she said. “That’s what we want them to take home and enjoy.”