The Tucson Show
A Continuing Very Brief History by Les Presmyk

1970 was the last year the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show was held at the Pima County Fairgrounds. The Show went out with a bang because it also hosted the Rocky Mountain Federation Regional Show that year. In 1969, I was lucky enough to be able to travel with Marc and Cliff Watson to the National Show in Salt Lake City, Utah, where I won the National Trophy for Junior Minerals. However, an educational exhibit beat me out of the Rocky Mountain Best of Juniors trophy. It was actually awarded to me but someone discovered the error on Sunday morning. Since the regional show was in Tucson and my 18th birthday was fast approaching, I took advantage of the opportunity to compete one last time as a junior.

A new convention center was being constructed and the show was moving to it in 1971. What a change! There was no dirt or manure to shovel off the floor. There was plenty of lighting and room for dealers and exhibitors. And the final phenomenon was the Desert Inn. For whatever reason, probably
because of its proximity to the show (only 3 blocks away) and the fact there were dealers who could not get into the show, the idea of selling out of a
hotel or motel really took off. Wayne Thompson and I shared a room in 1971. We walked in about two weeks before the show, got room 109 or 111 and paid the huge sum of $21.00 per day. It certainly seemed like a lot of money because our bill for one week equaled a semester's tuition.

I could go down to the DI after classes, sit and do homework and sell a few minerals. It must have been profitable because we did it for several years.
During that time, the Sands motel across the street began to fill up, as did the Holiday Inn (the original motel site during the Pima County fairground
days). The DI seemed to attract the mineral dealers, the Holiday Inn became the hangout for the lapidary types and the Sands was somewhere in between with a number of fossil dealers thrown in.
The Tucson Show Committee initiated a couple of

new competitions about this time. First, there was the single species or Best of Species competition.
This resulted from an idea proposed by John White in an editorial column in the Mineralogical Record. While he envisioned some kind of annual national
competition, the idea has only been implemented at Tucson and Denver to my knowledge. At Tucson, its original purpose was to select a mineral that was
well represented from Arizona. Back then, there was no show theme to tie the Best of Species competition to so it was whatever mineral the Show
Committee selected. The McDole Trophy was started to honor the memory of Ed McDole, a long time mineral collector and dealer to be awarded to the "best case of rocks" in the show. This has since evolved into the Desautels Trophy.

These were truly the good old days. There were about 30 to 35 dealers, predominantly minerals but with a few lapidary, gemstone and fossils thrown
in to round out the show. The mineral dealers were the best the hobby and business had to offer. Walt Lidstrom, Gary Hansen, Beth Gordon, Bill Larson, Ann Rutledge, Charlie Hansen (no relation to Gary), Wayne Leicht (although I can remember the first time I met Wayne and Dona they were set
up in the Desert Inn) and Herb Obodda to name a few.

The mineral find of the show did not end with the move to the Convention Center. There was the year of red and green with the first truly red vanadinites from Morocco and green meta-torbernite from Zaire. There was one case with these two minerals and what a display! Walt Lidstrom continued to have great minerals at reasonable although the economic forces were starting to push up prices. I do not remember a show where there weren't at least a half dozen people more than willing to help Walt unload his car just to get a first look at some of his things.

In terms of displays, Dave Wilber and Keith Proctor were really doing it up right. Every year, just when you did not think there would be anything
better found, Dave and Keith, along with others,

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