By Jenel Hunt
This weekend is all about church services, visits from the Easter Bunny, chocolate egg treasure hunts and … the Rock Swap and Collectables Fair at the Warwick Showgrounds.
It’s an Easter tradition spanning decades and for the crowds that flow through the show the event is a treasure hunt that has nothing to do with Easter eggs (although apparently there is a treasure hunt being organised for the kids and the ‘big kids’ who’ll be at the showgrounds).
But for most part, the treasures will take the shape of mineral specimens, fascinating old bottles or some of the many gemstones, jewellery collections, antiques, books and trinkets on display.
The Douglas Feez Pavilion and the Kevin Thumpkin Pavilion will exhibit all kinds of wonders, but it won’t be all indoors – stalls will also be set up at an outside car-boot trading area.
The fun starts on Friday 29 March and goes until Sunday and the gates will open at 8.30am each day, with a $5 admission price. Friday will be the biggest day, with an antique bottle auction planned for 6pm.
The display of bottles, collectables and coins may only be on show for the first two days.
There’s a caterer on the grounds so everything from burgers to hot and cold drinks will be available. A Stanthorpe producer will be there to sell produce and juice.
The event has been going for about 56 years and had a somewhat ‘rocky’ moment more than a decade ago when the Warwick Lapidary Club could no longer run the show.
Peter Hole, of Toowoomba, stepped in and he has been an integral part of the event ever since.
“The Darling Downs Antique Bottle and Collectables Club started because of the Warwick Rock Swap,” he said.
“We used to show our bottles in the chook pen at the Warwick Showgrounds. I was still just a kid when the bottle club was formed in Toowoomba. Because the Rock Swap was a major part of our history, I wanted to keep it going rather than see it fold.”
So he and his club took over the organising.
Just retired from a 20-year stint as president of the Darling Downs Antique Bottle and Collectables Club – he’s been in the club for about 45 years – Peter has been at the helm of the Rock Swap for the past 14 years. He retired about a month ago due to health problems.
But it’s funny how these things can come full circle, for this year Warwick Lapidary Club president Rhonda Kajewski has been involved and working hard to highlight the ‘rock’ part of the Rock Swap and Collectables Fair and keep this gem of an event going strong.
“I’ve worked hard over the past six months to get the lapidary side well represented. We even have one business coming this year whose father and father-in-law used to come in the 80s,” she said.
“There will be at least a dozen dealers in the Kevin Thumpkin Pavilion and the Douglas Feez Pavilion will be all about the antiques and bottles and collectables. It’s going to be a big year.”
