It’s a family kind of place

At the Crater of Diamonds State Park the majority of our visitors come as family groups.  And, I’m not talking about the Dad-Mom-2.5 children family, we have extended family groups.  Often when I meet our visitors and the group includes some elderly members, I will find that the older people have stories about coming to the Crater when their children were young, and now visiting again with their grandchildren or even great grandchildren.  Most groups also include family friends, a stray aunt, uncle, or cousins, and sometimes a boyfriend, girl friend, or a fiancé.  This spring a visitor reported that a young man had proposed to his girl friend out in our diamond search area (maybe he was hoping to find the diamond for the engagement ring).  We have family members in wheelchairs and tiny babies in strollers, and the fascinating thing is that they all manage to find a way to have a good time.  The older folks sit in front of the fan in the upper deck of the Diamond Discovery Center, which I have nicknamed for myself “the waiting room”.  The babies are watched in the shade of the trees, with rotating minders who want to take a break from looking for those elusive diamonds.

The days at the Crater are always an adventure.  It is either too cold or too hot, or too wet or too dry, but it is always essentially a plowed field.  So, if you come for a visit, be sure to bring the equipment to help you enjoy rather than endure the visit.  On hot days, people who have been here before bring umbrellas and coolers out to the search area.  Sometimes they even set up one of those collapsing gazebos to shade the spot they plan to work.  The heat index out on the field when we have a 90 degree day can be in the range of 110 to 120 degrees.  When that happens we hope that people will take lots of shade breaks and drink more water than they really want or need.  Conversely, on wet days, our visitors break out the rain gear/ponchos and either wear their oldest shoes or bring their rubber boots.  Our volcanic mud will suck the shoes right off your feet.  This summer, as a trial, we have also allowed our visitors to bring in their own wagons, wheel barrows, and other non-motorized wheeled devices to make toting equipment easier.  At the end of the year we will re-evaluate to see if we might want to make this change permanent.

Some changes are also happening at the Crater.  Our visitor center has been closed since the first week in March.  It has some problems that require a renovation and we hope to take advantage of this opportunity to make it even more interesting and fun to visit.  Yesterday, July 26^th, we also closed our campground for some much needed repairs and renovations.  Both of these facilities should be open again by next Spring, 2010, so you can use that as an excuse to come visit us again or for the first time.  When you visit, bring the neighbors, bring your pet, or just come by yourself.  We will be happy to see you, and help you make your Crater of Diamonds State Park adventure as much fun as possible.

Search area last plowed:  June 18, 2009, Total diamonds so far in 2009 -- 673

Diamond finds for July 13- July 26, 2009 (100 pts. = 1 carat):

July 13 - Pam Stanford, St. Louis, MO, 3 pt. brown

July 14- Sue McCown, Dickinson, TX, 34 pt. yellow

July 15 and 16 - no diamonds reported

July 17 - Billy Moore, Murfreesboro, AR, 25 pt. white

July 18 - Terry Staggs, Tulsa, OK, 18 pt. brown

July 19 - Terry Staggs, Tulsa, OK, 4 pt. white; Rebecca Keeton, Delight, AR, 1 pt. white, 3 pt. white, 3 pt. white, 23 pt. white; Lonnie Lamproy, Rudy, AR, 1 pt. white, 2 pt. white; Lisa Drenth, Lake Village, IN, 44 pt. white

July 20 and 21 - no diamonds reported

 July 22 - Edwin Long, Memphis, TN, 1.09 ct. brown; Marina Chew, Konawa, OK, 87 pt. white

July 23 - Collin Mireles, Houston, TX 9 pt. yellow; Denis Tyrrell, Murfreesboro, AR, 1 pt. white, 3 pt. brown, 4 pt. white, 5 pt. white, 5 pt. white, 6 pt. white, 9 pt. white,10 pt. white, 10 pt. white, 16 pt. white, 27 pt. white, 40 pt. brown, 41 pt. yellow, 50 pt. white, 50 pt. white, 57 pt. white; Jacob Lawry, Neveda, MO, 24 pt. white

July 24 - Sky Breedlove, Dallas, TX, 16 pt. white; Cade Renfro, Camden, AR, 60 pt. white

July 25 - Billy Moore, Murfreesboro, AR, 5 pt. white; Denis Tyrrell, Murfreesboro, AR, 4 pt. white, 5 pt. white, 7 pt. white, 11 pt. white, 12 pt. white, 14 pt. white, 38 pt. white

July 26 - no diamonds reported