Dazzling stones. Jewelry beads.

Rare minerals. Ancient fossils.

They will all be on display and for sale this weekend at the Mother’s Day Gemboree in Franklin.

Rock hunters, jewelry artists and tourists looking to take home a prized piece of the mountains will come by the thousands for this annual event, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 9 and 10, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 11 — all three days at the Macon County Community Building on U.S. 441 south of Franklin.

Linda Harbuck, executive director of the Franklin Area Chamber of Commerce and co-chairperson for this year’s Mother’s Day Gemboree, said more than 20 dealers will be coming to the show from all over the Eastern U.S. — from New York to West Virginia to Georgia, Florida and Louisiana. Some of the dealers this year have never before come to the Gemboree, so visitors will get a chance to see stones they might not normally get to see. The show offers a wide range of lapidary gems, rough and cut minerals, stones and beads for costume designers, and even some tools and equipment for making your own jewelry.

“It’s always good to see some new faces and see some new products,” Harbuck said. “There will be something for everybody.”

Harbuck and the Gemboree organizers scheduled the event for Mother’s Day because it’s also the same weekend for a gem and lapidary wholesalers show in Franklin at the Watauga Center. Local and regional jewelers and gem merchants attend this show to pick up supplies for their stores. So, it’s really a two-for-one gem of a weekend.

Franklin touts itself as the “Gem Capital of the World” because of the wide variety of gems that have been discovered in the area. The county is well known for its rubies, sapphires and garnets. Back in1893, Tiffany’s of New York produced a glowing report about the prized gems that could be found in Cowee Valley. National mining companies came to the area seeking treasures, and mines sprung up as a tourism venture. In its heyday, Macon County boasted about 30 mines in the 1950s and ‘60s, according to Fred Plesner, a former president of the Gem & Mineral Society of Franklin and co-chair of this year’s Mother’s Day Gemboree. These days, gemboree shows continue to bring in a wealth of rock experts and tourists who come to buy, collect and peruse precious stones, geodes, dinosaur fossils, and both native and foreign gems.

“Whether they find it or not, they’ll be here looking,” Plesner said.

Tourists like to savor their trip by taking home a piece of the mountains — whether it’s a polished stone or a rough-shaped rock from a local mine.

In its seventh year, the Mother’s Day Gemboree is the newest addition to Franklin’s gemboree shows. The others are held in July and October.

Attendance can vary from year to year, but the July gemboree — the longest running of the three— attracts about 46,000 people in a weekend, according to Plesner. Hotels tend to fill up quickly, and area restaurants enjoy a brisk business.

“It fills the town; it fills the country,” Plesner added.

Franklin gemboree organizers begin working on booking vendors, scheduling and preparing the logistics in January and work straight through the tourist season.

“These are not just things that happen overnight,” Plesner said.

However, local business leaders will be cautiously looking at this weekend’s attendance as a barometer for this summer’s tourist season, which could be affected by the surge in gas prices this spring. In the opening days of May, regular unleaded gas had topped an all-time high of $3.51 per gallon as a national average, with some states pushing towards $4 a gallon. The price at the pump is up nearly 66 cents per gallon nationwide since a year ago. Some tourism analysts predict fewer family vacations this summer while others say more will drive to regional destinations rather than fly.

“We don’t know what to expect because of the gas prices,” Harbuck said.

At any rate, the jewels will be waiting in Franklin for those looking for good deals and rare gems.

For more information about this weekend’s Gemboree, call 1.800.336.7829.