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RADDISON, SASK. — Most young entrepreneurs start small: a lemonade stand on a hot day, maybe a bake sale or babysitting gig to earn a few bucks.
But in this tiny prairie town, one kid had a different idea. He opened a museum.
The Sesula Mineral & Gem Museum and Rock Shop is home to over 1,500 sparkling rocks, fossils and minerals. It also houses the only baby T. rex on display in all of Canada.
Listen to Judah Tyreman on behind the Headlines:
It’s owned and operated by Judah Tyreman. He was only 11 when he opened the museum in 2016 — a home schooled kid with a rock polisher, a head full of curiosity and a dining room table so covered in stones you couldn’t eat dinner on it.
“Why did I open specifically a mineral and gem museum?” Tyreman shrugged, like the answer is obvious. “Because I like shiny things.”
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Ten years in, Judah Tyreman is still at the helm of the museum he started at 11 — more sure than ever that curiosity, not age, builds expertise. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
A boy with a big idea
When he was nine, Tyreman’s dad, Chris Tyreman, handed him a rock polisher — a curious little machine that would change everything.
“I started collecting rocks from all over — train tracks, gravel pits, anywhere I could find something shiny or interesting,” Tyreman recalled.
What began as a hobby quickly grew into a passion that took over the family home. “My mom has a bunch of glass jars she uses for canning, and I filled them all with stones,” he laughed. “There were rocks all over the house. We couldn’t eat at the dining room table for a whole month.”
What began as a childhood collection now spans hundreds of specimens — each one a quiet invitation to look closer. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
That collection soon caught the attention of others. In 2016, a local seniors’ group received a grant to create a natural history display. Tyreman was the only kid with a collection big enough to showcase.
“My dad put up signs on the highway to get people to come see the display,” he said. “People started stopping by the senior centre to look at the rocks. Then they started asking if they could buy any. We didn’t have anything for sale yet, but they left donations anyway.”
That moment sparked an idea: why not open a real museum? Not just for showing off his collection, but as a place for kids and adults alike to learn, explore and maybe get a little inspired.
From the outside, it’s easy to miss. But inside, the Sesula Museum holds a decade’s worth of collecting, learning, and reimagining what a museum can be. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
They took over a vacant building in town and, with some paint, grit and imagination, transformed it into something magical.
Tyreman’s museum quickly became much more than just a collection of stones — it became his classroom.
“He’s home schooled,” his dad Chris explained. “This was his schooling, because when you think about it, he’s got a business. So he’s got personal skills, he learns from customers, ordering skills, math skills… it was all in one.”
A museum made for curious hands
The Sesula Mineral & Gem Museum isn’t your typical museum. There are no velvet ropes, no sterile glass cases or “do not touch” signs keeping curious hands away.
“That’s what parents tell (their kids) before they come in,” Tyreman said with a laugh. “They’ll tell me quite often, ‘I just spent the last 20 minutes trying to tell them not to touch everything.’ And then they come in, and it’s just completely ruined for them.”
Every surface is filled with gleaming specimens and quirky finds — minerals that shimmer like soap bubbles, slabs of fossilized coral, chunks of meteorites and curious artifacts from all over the world.
It’s the kind of piece every kid wants to run their hands across — rough, layered, full of texture. In most museums, they’d be told not to. Here, they’re encouraged to. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
Yes, it’s crowded. And sure, there’s a bit of dust — but that’s just part of its character.
“I’ve given up hope keeping up with it,” Tyreman admitted with a laugh. “It’s dusty all the time. Someone even complained once. There are so many tiny pieces everywhere, it’s not like I can just grab a vacuum and clean between them all. Honestly, I think I just collect dust more than anything.”
For Tyreman, the dust and clutter are just part of the adventure. To him, these sparkling treasures aren’t meant to sit untouched — they’re meant to be held, felt and discovered up close. He believes the true magic happens when you get to explore them with your own hands.
“It’s hands-on. It’s to get a feel for things,” he explained. “You see all these different things — you don’t know actually how much it weighs. There’s different densities for some of them. So it can be eye-opening.”
The only baby T. rex on display in Canada — just one of the unexpected wonders tucked inside a former prairie storefront. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
A little town’s big attraction
Radisson, population just under 500, isn’t the kind of place you would expect to find international tourists. But since the museum opened, visitors from all over the world have found their way to this little gem of a town in Saskatchewan.
“I’ve had several people from Israel, from the Balkan areas, from Russia, England, Florida, you name it,” Chris said. “It’s so weird, because the world comes here.”
Under blacklight, the museum takes on a different glow — a reminder that some things only reveal their magic when you change the way you look. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
Even Coco Campion, who works at the museum, is amazed at who shows up. “I had some people from New York and some people from all across Canada,” she said. “They see the sign and they’re like, ‘Oh, we decided to stop in,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, this is crazy.’”
Sometimes, the small-world moments are almost too perfect. “I had some people, and I could recognize the accent. I was like, ‘Are you guys from Quebec?’ And they were from my hometown,” Campion laughed. “I’m in the middle of nowhere in Saskatchewan — Radisson — and there’s people from another middle of nowhere in Quebec!”
A sparkle for the next generation
Not long ago, a little boy came into the shop with his parents. His eyes lit up the moment he stepped inside.
“He was all crazy about rocks,” Campion recalled. “He basically toured me through our shop, showing me around, talking about this and that.”
The boy had met Tyreman before — and had never forgotten him.
Visitors are naturally drawn to the jagged edges and intricate textures of this geode. And unlike most museums, here they’re invited to reach out and feel its raw, natural beauty. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
“He told me that he was really inspired by the story,” Campion. “He wishes he could do something like this as well, because he really loves collecting and finding new stones and rocks. It was really, really adorable.”
For eight-year-old Kinsey, who stopped by with her sister Olivia while visiting their Nana, the appeal of the museum was all about the sparkles. “Crystals. I love crystals,” Kinsey said, eyes wide as she admired a huge amethyst geode. She’s already a budding collector herself, with an organizational system at home. “We have like this whole like thingymabob where we put the things in rainbow order.”
Eight-year-old Kinsey, visiting from out of town, already has a crystal collection of her own. The next generation of collectors is never far behind. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
These young visitors are what fuel Tyreman’s passion now.
“It’s really sweet to see some of the kids that come in,” he said. “Some of them are really knowledgeable… It just blows me away.”
Even now, more than a decade after it all began, Tyreman still lights up when he comes across something truly special. His favorite? “I’m a sucker for Labradorite, amazingly enough. And I’m not sure why. I just really love the colors of it. It’s kind of like the Northern Lights trapped in a stone.”
Judah’s favorite: labradorite. He calls it the Northern Lights in a stone. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
And maybe that’s what the Sesula Mineral & Gem Museum is, too — a bit of Northern Light tucked away in the middle of the prairie, glowing with the energy of one kid’s wild idea, his jars of rocks and a dream big enough to pull the whole world toward Radisson.
So next time you’re passing through and see the sign, stop in.
There’s magic in there. The kind that starts with a rock polisher… and ends with a sparkle in a kid’s eye.
Judah Tyreman and Coco Campion inside the Sesula Mineral & Gem Museum — a place built not from blueprints, but from one kid’s curiosity and a community that showed up to see it grow. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
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