Oregon rocks — and gems too. Eugene residents came flocking to see and purchase rocks, gems and minerals at the 2024 Oregon Geo Fest.
The festival was hosted and organized by 5 Elements Gem and Mineral in front of their storefront and ran from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 20. Over a dozen vendors came to sell their wares and promote their businesses.
One booth, operated by Desiree Mengel and sold under the brand name “DN Mengel Minerals,” sells minerals and crystals from all around the world as well as carvings of pop culture mascots like Sanrio’s My Melody or Pokemon’s Squirtle.
“I just absolutely love the fluorite. It’s fluorescent and they’re just really cute cubes,” Mengel said. “But if you’re going to ask me what moves the best, it’s definitely the little carvings. I bring those in because it’s what people want, but my passion is the fluorite.”
Mengel has been a lifelong rock hounder, but she didn’t open DN Mengel Minerals until around a year ago. Before that, she was a farmer. She only resorted to selling crystals after her barn burned down.
“I lost everything and went into a deep depression and used all my insurance money to start this,” Mengel said.
The story seems to have a happy ending for Mengel though, as she says she loves what she does.
“The people that I meet are really what’s the best about this business,” she said. “Not only the customers, but all the relationships you make with the different members.”
Another vendor at the festival, Ariel McCoy, owns and operates the crystal shop Inspiring Alignments in Eugene. McCoy became interested in crystals and the geological process after taking an LLC geology course. She took knowledge from the class and applied her own love for the metaphysical to make her shop what it is today.
“My store is a little bit of both where we can talk about like the mineral makeup, but also the
Energetic makeup of the stones,” McCoy said.
McCoy has been collecting stones since 2010 and has had her store for four years now. One of McCoy’s favorite stones that she pointed out was the green serpentinite from the Ural Mountain mines in Russia. The Ural Mountains range is one of the oldest in the world with a deep history of the metaphysical.
“They each carry a unique energy and come from different locations all around the world,” she said. “I also feel like I use stones from different locations as a way to feel like I can travel the world without leaving home.”
The serpentinite stone is a mixture of serpentine and other minerals which can be hard to find. But serpentine itself is rather common all around Oregon.
“I’ve actually gone on a field trip with LCC and we chipped away at a cliff of a serpentine,” McCoy said. “It was really cool, so there’s like some memory tied into it as well.”
In addition to the crystals, Inspiring Alignments sells a number of things including locally made products and artwork from local artists. McCoy is primarily a tie dye artist and sells custom tie dye clothing through the store as well.
“I love the custom tie dyes where someone’s like, ‘this is my size, these are the colors I like, can you make me something?’”
Both of these vendors are on the move if you want to check them out. At the moment, DN Mengel Minerals does not have a physical store, but can be found on Instagram.
DN Mengel Minerals Instagram
Inspiring Alignments: 1120 Bailey RD, Suite 1