THUNDER BAY -- The allure of cool-looking rocks will extend beyond campgrounds this May long weekend.
The Thunder Bay Rock and Mineral Show opened its doors Friday at the Coliseum Building, and will host the display for the next three days.
The event is being held by Jacob’s Trading, a company based in Manitoba.
“There’s a lot of demand in Thunder Bay,” said co-owner Tegan Jacobs. “So far the turnout has been good, we had a school group first thing, and other people have shown a lot of interest.”
The school group in attendance ventured all the way from Lappe to see the spectacle.
“We’re doing a unit on rocks, so it all tied in nicely with our whole inquiry in kindergarten,” said kindergarten teacher Carla Stewart from Gorham and Ware Public School. “We’ve had a rock museum in our program for the last couple of weeks, so this will just open another whole avenue for questions.”
Olivia Davey attended the show with her mother and sisters, and she claimed her love of rocks led her to come to the show.
“It’s happily overwhelming,” said the 12-year-old. “I really like rocks, and fossils, and all the colours.”
From the vast range of rock selection, Olivia was fascinated by fossilized dinosaur fecal matter, ammonite, and serpentine.
“We have anything from Brazilian amethyst, to fossils from Morocco, and megalodon shark teeth,” said Jacobs. “You name it we got it.”
The event also featured an animal display courtesy of Winnipeg-based Prairie Exotics.
The company had a display of more than 40 different animals, including a show for the kindergarten students which included pythons and komodo dragons.
The exhibit will be open to public until Monday at 5 p.m.
