Joanne Winer
QUARTZSITE TIMES
October 17th, 2006
One of the groups that has been very active in Celia's Rainbow Gardens since
the first year the Gardens started in 1995 has been the Quartzsite Roadrunners
Gem and Mineral club.
When we first talked about wanting to line the trails with rock, we got a call
from the club president who told us that the club wanted to get involved and
would be more than happy to help with this project.
That first year, they brought out hundreds of rocks in the back of pickup
trucks, and we walked along behind the trucks dropping all the rocks they
brought and lining the pathways.
This was the beginning of a wonderful working relationship with this club that
has lasted year after year ever since. The members of the club have been having
many work sessions over the years to help the Gardens.
When we first started, we wanted to have a display of raw and polished rocks so
that people visiting this area would be able to identify what they can find in
the desert around here and what they look like when they are polished up.
Sometimes the most ordinary rock holds a beautiful treasure when cut and
polished into gemstones.
Tyson Wells Corp. made a donation to help build a pavilion that would house this
display, and members of the club designed and built the pavilion over the next
few winters.
The rock club has been working in the Gardens for many seasons now, and have
done so much for the project that we cannot thank them enough for all their
efforts.
We have had many work sessions making rock art displays, cleaning up after the
summer in their area, raking and placing rocks along the trails, and much more.
They are a wonderful group to work with, and have added much to the overall look
of the Gardens as well as their own area.
They are planning to put their displays of raw and polished rocks together this
winter and making their display area inside the pavilion complete so the area
can be landscaped and finished.
We are looking forward to having this display put in place so that everyone can
see what is available in this area and can easily put a name to some of the
gemstones they can find.
We thank the rock club for all their time and efforts.