On May 8th, Coloma was given a face lift. Over 400 members of the LDS Church spent the morning painting and staining historic buildings, restrooms, and stamp mills, cleaning artifacts, splitting wood downed by last winter's storms, weeding, and picking up trash. This was part of a 20,000 volunteer, statewide initiative by the LDS Church to help state, community, and local parks. They made a big difference in our park and we appreciate their hard work and generous contribution.

More pictures have been added to the photo gallery. CLICK HERE to view the album directly.

The May/June issue of the "Golden Flakes" is online and ready for you to read. Click the link below to open it in PDF format.

To reduce the workload of editing and publishing our association newsletter, the bi-monthly publication schedule of the newsletter will be changed to a quarterly one beginning in June. The next issue will be the July/Aug/Sept edition.

Paper copies will be mailed tomorrow. 

May/June Golden Flakes

On April 24th, Marjorie and Craig Sanborn hosted the Volunteer Appreciation Lunch at the Coloma Country Inn. The Native Sons catered the event and did a wonderful job for the 90 people that attended. From 11:00 to 12:00 Tal Jones (our very own director) entertained the crowd with his musical talent on the keyboard. Lunch was served and at 1:00, Ranger Eric Carter, master of ceremonies, presented awards for the 2009 volunteers. Mark Michalski presented the Poppy Award, the highest award Parks presents to a volunteer, to Mike Okey. Several other awards were given for outstanding docents and volunteers including Susan Okey, Mark Kochan, Ed Allen, and Kathy Gramsgibbs. Everyone attending the lunch received a token from the mineral shop...just a small thank you for their contributions last year. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful time for all.

Ranger Mark Michalski presenting the Poppy Award to Mike Okey

On March 20th the small mineral and gem shop opened for business. (A grand opening is planning in the near future.) The store is in the old Post Office along Highway 49 (not the current Post Office next to the Blacksmith's shop). Days and hours of operation are limited right now due to the need for more volunteers. We try to have it open for several hours on Thursdays and Fridays and most of the day on Saturdays.The little store is packed with all types of items including onyx, fossils, petrified wood, quartz, to mention just a few. The store is an extension of the Museum Store, run by GDPA. Therefore, all proceeds are used to fund park interpretive and educational programs and projects. The interpretive theme for the shop is "Mining Methods." Come in and see a display of rocks from Coloma's own hard rock mine.

Docent Bill Wald is offering a gem mining activity for kids and families a couple of days a week to whet the appetites of young rock hounds-to-be. For four dollars the children buy a bag of sand with about 14-15 various rocks buried inside. A rocker table is available to separate the sand and rocks and then the rocks are taken to a table where they are identified and become the beginning of a rock collection, and, hopefully, a life long interest for the child.