By Anne Higuera
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

There’s still one more day to stop in at the West Seattle Rock Club’s Rock and Gem Show, which is open again Sunday from 10 am-5 pm at the Alki Masonic Center, 4736 40th Ave SW, free to the public and with some tantalizing door prizes. But the true gems of the show may just be hiding in plain sight.

The Rock Club is celebrating its 60th year with 100 members, 30 of whom are juniors. Members get to show off their finds, their work and their knowledge via displays at the annual show. This year’s show also has 5 stone craftspeople demonstrating their skills and the machinery required to make things like beads, creating facets, and shaping cabochons. There are also a few sellers with rocks and gems in a finished form.

Show visitors have the chance to bid on rocks and minerals in a silent auction; there’s a “people’s choice” award for the best displays, and a chance at a prize just for walking in the door. It’s the group’s biggest fundraiser of the year, and it’s the 57th show.

That is also coincidentally the number of years that Audrey and Lyle Vogelpohl have been members of the club, joining in 1968. They have humbly stewarded the organization practically ever since, adding a Juniors group to the roster along the way. Often, those younger members will get the rockhounding bug after going on one of the club’s field trips and then start going to monthly meetings to learn more.

The Vogelpohls have consistently made the West Seattle Rock Club a priority through most of their married life, while providing an educational opportunity for the entire community. They’re also involved with statewide and national organizations devoted to mineralogy. As the club website says, it is, “dedicated to the advancement of the lapidary arts and to enjoying the great outdoors.”

Audrey says they’ve both relished the work they’ve done with the club, particularly in the 27 years they’ve been retired. “You can’t just sit in a rocker,” she said. Lyle’s specialty is shaping cabochons, and Audrey was wearing a necklace today that she made out of one by adding beading to it. It’s work that takes patience and dedication, something the Vogelpohls have in spades.

Admission to the show is free, and so is parking in the Masonic Center’s lot for showgoers.