Denver Gem & Mineral Show 2026

You know you are amongst the geekiest when you find people adding pop culture fandoms to a gem and mineral show. As soon as I saw Pikachu I knew I had found my cover photo for the event. The Denver Gem & Mineral Show is at the Westin right off of highway 36. It is running the 10th-13th.

Arriving, the first thing we noticed was that the parking situation is really bad. Most of the lots had signs up that said for over night guests only. This means that most people had to pay for either valet parking or park way off site and hike in. For handicap they did have free parking, but very few spots. We got lucky and arrived just as someone was leaving. I would say that the overall parking situation is bad and that the show needs to find a new venue with better parking.

The show was both inside and outside. The outside portion had many issues with ADA. Some "tents" had stairs to get into on the front, or you had to go to the back ramp that was super uneven. Also in the big tent the floor panels were very uneven and I even saw able bodied people tripping. So, I would say if you are physically disabled in any way to avoid the outside section entirely for your safety.

There were a few maps around to help you see the layout. They had giant mental fences up that made navigation difficult.

Thee above anatomically correct heart I found very amusing.

Not only were things for sale, but there were many museum style case displays for you to look at as well.

The above table was amazing. They had mystery grab bags for $1. There were 2 different kinds, either gem/mineral or fossil to choose from. This table was a few different clubs managing the table. This was near the family education area. The family area had free specimens for kids and even a dig area.

They had a whole case of uranium rocks and I kind of wished that I had a Geiger counter to see how much radiation it was giving off.

The above mouse was one of my favorite finds at this show. I had walked by another booth that had a book with its picture on the front. The carving detail was amazing. I would hate to see how much it sells for. They also had an area where there was rock art pictures where I saw prices from $14,000 to $48,000. Many were amazing in not only the detail, but all the different types of rocks the had to use to pull off the image.

Another turnoff about this event was that you had to fill out a form and get a badge. Yes the event was free to get in and the badge could be considered a souvenir. The badge was scanned by staff going both in and out of areas. It messed with the flow of traffic and just felt all around invasive. I have been going to shows for years and have never dealt with this before. 

For me the best part of the show was the $1 grab bags. Don't forget to check out our videos of us opening them. I'll add the links below as we post them. Overall though I would say the show was not a good experience and could be skipped (you could just go to the opening weekend of the big show at the National Westeren Complex if you don't mind crowds). I would give it a poor rating (1star or F) due to parking, not ADA friendly in outside section, and the stupid badge.

Video of sites around the show.

Videos of opening the $1 mystery bags.