The business of launching the 2016 WGPC in Placerville started over lunch at the historic Sportsmans Hall in Pollock Pines in early summer 2013.
Richard and Joyce Mason, veteran gold panners, wanted to bring the gold panning champs back to El Dorado County. The last time they were held here was in 1998, in Coloma, where the gold rush got its start. Richard, known among the international gold panning family as Uncle Fuzzy, asked a friend if he’d help out. Three years later, the World Gold Panning Championships were held in Placerville.
Richard and his friend spent 2 years putting the basics together and recruiting volunteers, and sponsors.
The volunteer group that came together to make it all happen went to the World Gold Panning Championships in Navelgas, Spain in 2015 to find out what it took to have a successful competition. They studied what worked well, what just worked, and what didn’t work.
They returned to Placerville and went over all their collected data, and over the next year put together a well oiled organization of multi talented volunteers and sponsors who made it all happen. The work from 2013 thru 2015 was all part of it.
In September of 2016 Placerville turned into an international community with the El Dorado County Fairgrounds as the center of a very successful gold panning competition. The competition was an astounding success on many different levels.
The website archives contain the information about the 2016 Championships. We invite you to take a look. If you are planning to host an upcoming World Gold Panning Championship, we are available to answer questions, and give whatever help we can to assist you. It is a complicated and rewarding experience.