By KATHERINE LJUNGQVIST/YachatsNews.com
The Gem of the Oregon Coast will host the Ninth Annual Yachats Agate Festival at the Yachats Commons this weekend, drawing rock enthusiast from the Pacific Northwest to share and show minerals, gems, crystals, fossils, and of course, agates, during peak rock hunting season along Oregon’s beaches.
The festival’s schedule is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Donna Hirschman, who moved to Yachats to manage Planet Yachats, is one of the founders of the festival. She explained that the lull in visitors following the holiday season generated a need to increase interest in the area. While January might not seem like the ideal time of year to visit Oregon’s blustery, churning beaches, Hirschman views the season a little differently.
“The best time to hunt for agates is after a big storm when the sand gets taken back out into the sea,” she says. “It’s a wonderful thing to see. I love going up and down the coast and going into coves and finding them.”
Agates, colorful stones forged from volcanic rock, aren’t the only semi-precious rocks that can be found in this region.
“Jasper is one of the most unique stones to our coast,” Hirschman explains, “it comes in ever so many colors – green, red, yellowish – a multitude. I don’t think you can find as much jasper in other places.”
The festival has flourished since it began nine years ago.
“We started out with a small group,” Hirschman says, “Advertising and word of mouth helped.”
Their efforts paid off, and now approximately 1,000 people attend the show every year. “We have 31 vendors from all over Oregon, with some coming from as far as Seattle and northern California.”
The festival is not just about agates; it showcases all kinds of rocks, minerals, and fossils and what you can do with them. This year the festival will include demonstrations on wire wrapping and will host several guest speakers.
Hirschman says visitors will have the opportunity to see rocks in a new light when they enter a tent housing a ultraviolet light that will make certain rocks glow in the dark. “We have one rock that is just an old grey rock, but when you put the UV light on it, it has all these red bits that glow.”
There will also be speakers present sharing their knowledge of rocks, fossils, and minerals. One of those is a returning expert and author of “Agates of the Oregon Coast,” K. Meyers, also known as the Rock Doc. “If you have anything unusual that you’re not sure of, you can bring it into the show – she’s pretty good at answering questions about the rocks.”
Hirschman says the festival is designed to be both fun and educational.
“It has been a lot of fun to watch it grow and there has been a lot of participation, she said. “Yachats as a community has supported this event.”
Each year the festival hosts a raffle containing prizes of gift certificates or merchandise from local businesses. Proceeds support local charities that benefit the community. This year’s charity is SOLVE, an Oregon-based project that finances the Oregon Beach Cleanup.
Talks and demonstrations:
Saturday
11 a.m.: Book signing with Marlie Miller, author of “Roadside Geology of Oregon.”
Noon: Wire wrapping with George Mazeika.
12:30 p.m.: Agate window tour of Yachats Community Presbyterian Church.
1:30 p.m.: Dan Sawyer of Wild Coast Kelp will talk about sea vegetables on the Oregon coast.
Sunday
11 a.m.: Beach Combing 101 with “Agates of the Oregon Coast” author and “Rock Doc” K. Myers.
1:30 p.m.: Former Oregon State Park ranger Cameron Rauenhorst will talk about beach rock-hounding.
