Crater of Diamonds Newsletter

Greetings from Crater of Diamonds! The recent relocation of our gift shop to its temporary home in the Diamond Discovery Center (in an area formerly known as “the classroom”) has brought with it a few changes in how I handle interpretive programs. Because of the move, I have been pushed out of my element and into the elements at Crater of Diamonds State Park.

Instead of offering a series of indoor programs and workshops to visitors, my focus has shifted to the Great Outdoors. Now, instead of viewing pictures of famous diamonds projected against a blank wall, visitors can actually stand where these diamonds were found, hear the legends behind the finds, and imagine themselves finding the next Big One. Instead of hearing tales about commercial diamond miners, they can walk where the miners walked, touch the tools they used, and imagine what it must have been like to mine diamonds for a living.

The public seems to agree that learning about the Crater is good, but there’s nothing quite like experiencing it firsthand. Among all of the mining demonstrations and hikes I’ve offered this month, there has hardly been an instance when someone didn’t show up! You might attribute this to the fact that we’re past the holidays and people are just looking for something to do, but I think it’s for another reason—people want to experience the Crater while in the Crater!

Of course, many of these hikes and tours have always been a part of our regular program offerings here, but now they have become the primary focus for those interested in close encounters of the Crater kind. I am excited about the many new experiences we will be offering in the months to come that will help amateur diamond miners get up close and personal with this big old volcanic pipe!

Taking my programs “into the cold” has certainly refreshed my vision of what makes this place so special and why I love my job. Though the Diamond Discovery Center classroom is only a transitory stop for the gift shop, its impact on how and where I present programs will be everlasting.

Speaking of Crater of Diamonds experiences, a recent visit to the park by Arkansas’s own Duggar family, stars of the TLC show 17 Kids and Counting, will be aired early next month, at 9:00 p.m. on February 3. Be sure and catch the park on television that night, then come see the Crater in person!

January 23 - Rebecca Emison, San Angelo, TX, 3 pt. white; John McAfee, Donora, PA, 4 pt. yellow