Clallam County Gem & Mineral Society members know beauty often is found on the inside and at this year’s Rock and Gem Show they will share that beauty.

Round, plain-looking rocks found on a beach west of Twin Rivers can be cracked open to reveal fossils; a very rare mineral named Crescent poppy jasper looks oddly speckled but unremarkable until it is sliced and polished, allowing the red spots to stand in stark contrast to the gray and black veins.

The club makes beads, jewelry, spears and decorative tree figures, among many other things, with the rocks and minerals found, show chairman Tom Ellison said.

"We’re just like kids when we find these things," he said.

The club became official in 1954, though some of the oldest members say it started as early as 1936, and has held an annual "Earth’s Treasures" show for an unknown number of years. Ellison said there are about 80 members in the club.

The show includes displays of rocks, minerals, gems and art along with vendor booths, Ellison said, adding the club had to turn down 20-30 vendors due to space constraints. About 20 vendors will be at the show, he said.

"It has taken us several years to get the right set of vendors so we don’t have too much of the same thing," he said.

Members will share their skills with show-goers during demonstrations and workshops where people can learn about rock carving, wire wrapping and how to make wired ming trees.

Most of the rocks and gems on display will be local, though there will be some non-local features such as the Oregon sun stones, which were made famous by the Travel Channel, club member Terry Stockman said.

Stockman said club members often get non-local items by trading what they find locally with people from out of the area who give what is found locally for them.

The club goes on six to eight field trips a year to find rocks and gems, he said. Members also go on their own trips to find the stones. Ellison said he went to nine states last year as a field trip.

"We are pretty much fanatics," he said about the club members.

Ellison said the yearly show is all about reaching out to the community and building a future for the club.

Show admission is free. It runs from 10 a.m-5 p.m. Oct. 1-2 and 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Oct. 3 at the Sequim Boys & Girls Club, 400 W. Fir St., Sequim.

For more information, go to the club website at www.OlympicRocks.com or call Tom Ellison at 460-1333.

Reach Amanda Winters at awinters@sequimgazette.com.