76 Sunny Windy
Our day started off with the same question we ask every morning in Tucson; ” Where are we going today?” We look at the Showbook and today we decided on the largest combined shows at one location, The Holidome Marketplace and the Holidome Pavillions as well as a quick stop at Intergem which is in the Clarion (used to be Holiday Inn). The Gem & Lapidary Wholesalers (GL&W) is also on the grounds and is comprised of another two enormous hard-sided tents. These are wholesale shows.
So you have 4 giant hard-sided tents, so large it is impossible to fathom, sort off in a circular formation, like spokes, with an end of each tent tied into a central outside courtyard where assorted food is prepared and sold.
The Intergem Show is quite small consisting of dealers inside the hotel, both in the ballroom and halls as well as in a tent next to the Hotel. Bonnie found some very fine beads, and I mostly just sat in the lobby and waited. I liked the strands of faceted Unakite beads that we had not seen in other shows, as well as Tigereye. Sodalite, and banded Agate.
Bonnie selects stones for earrings
Our car was left in the Clarion where you can take the free shuttle to most other Gem Shows around town.
Inside a giant tent
You have heard me expound on my love (NOT) for bead ladies with big suitcases in crowded aisles where they run into your ankles and block traffic. You may have doubted me, but here you can see a vendor offering “Free Parking” for the suitcases while the Bead Ladies pick out their treasures. I talked to one Bead Lady who said she had a small suitcase, but I told her she was not a true Bead Lady.
The Holidome tents are maybe 60% finished jewelry, mostly imported from Asia, which is not of interest to us. Beads at the shows also tend to be from China or India, and the sellers are of these nationalities. We see quite a few foreign buyers at the shows, but not as many as there used to be, due to similar shows overseas. While Bonnie was looking at beads, I found faceted bicolor Lemon/Smokey Quartz with a phantom smokey crystal in it. I will be making this into jewelry soon.
Here are a few chic beads we found today.
Faceted Unakite
Sodalite, Tigereye
Ocean Jasper
Together we selected several pairs of matched cabochon beads for earrings. It was fun sorting through a large assortment of these.
We only went through the Holidome tents today. We have two more (bigger) tents left at this site!