This show ranks as one of the largest and most important in the world. These shows are organized by other societies, vendors and individual promoters, and take place in large, outdoor tents, nearby hotels and smaller exhibit halls. The combined attendance of the Main Show and the others is nearly 100,000. The shows comprise the largest tourism-related event in Tucson each year. Fluorite minerals and Alpine minerals are featured at this year's show.
Fluorite minerals display a great variety of spectacular colors and shapes.
The Alpine mineral suite is in great mountain belts like the Alps of Switzerland, Austria and Italy. It includes quartz, feldspar, mica, hematite, epidote, garnet and fluorite. The Alpine mineral suite was defined in the great mountain belts of the Alps in Switzerland, Austria and Italy, The minerals are typically formed in cavities in the granite core of the mountains. In these clefts tremendous crystals form. Some quartz crystals have been found in the Alps that weigh nearly a ton.