PORT ANGELES — The fifth annual Rock, Gem and Jewelry Show will rock for charity this year, with all food sales going to help a Port Angeles girl walk on her own two feet.
The show will offer all kinds of geologic treasures from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
Admission is free, and each child who enters will receive a free polished rock while supplies last.
30 vendors
The Vern Burton center will be packed with 30 vendors selling rough and polished rocks, gemstones, fossils, beads, slabs, carvings, crystals, minerals, Uruguay amethyst geodes, shells, jewelry, wire wrapping, woodworking, cabochons and stone-working equipment.
There was a waiting list for vendors to get into the show this year, and the Vern Burton center’s booth organization scheme had to be reorganized to make room for all of them, said Rob Merritt, event coordinator for the Port Angeles Parks and Recreation Department.
“We have about a dozen new vendors who were not here last year,” Merritt said.
Every level of interest
Vendor items include something for every level of interest in lapidary arts, he said, from simple rocks for children to collect to rare stone for collectors, tools and finished jewelry.
Merritt said there also will be a silent rock auction, with items donated by vendors.
Food will be sold to benefit Hayden Webber, a 9-year-old Port Angeles girl seeking an operation her family cannot otherwise afford, he said.
The food service has been turned over to Hayden’s family and supporters to raise money for a major medical procedure for the Queen of Angels student.
Hayden was born with a condition known as proximal focal femoral deficiency, which caused her right femur to grow bent, twisted and shorter than her left.
She walks using a “third foot,” a brace for her shortened leg that acts as a prosthetic to match the length of her healthy leg.
Leg-lengthening surgery
A specialty hospital in Florida offers leg-lengthening surgery and a new knee so she can walk with both of her feet on the ground, said Jodi Thies, Hayden’s mother.
West Coast children’s medical organizations have not been able to offer the procedure, Thies said.
The family will need to relocate there for at least two months, she said.
Merritt said the city has offered the use of the Vern Burton kitchen and vending free of charge; all proceeds will go to Hayden’s medical expenses.
Food will include pulled pork with chips and coleslaw, fresh garden salad with or without chicken, a loaded baked potato, a Polish dog with chips, chili with cheese and onions, and Pepsi-Cola products or coffee.
Prices will vary from $3 to $6 for food items.
The pulled pork and coleslaw are Thies’ own recipe, with a Cajun bite to them, she said.
Hayden also will be the recipient of proceeds from the sixth annual Benefit and Talent Show at Port Angeles High School, 304 E. Park Ave., at 7 p.m. March 27.
Donations for Hayden also can be made at www.gofundme.com/surgeries-for-Hayden. As of Thursday, $7,440 had been raised of a $60,000 goal.
For more information about the Rock, Gem and Jewelry Show, phone Merritt at 360-417-4523.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
