The Keynote Dinner at Doubletree Hilton Arboretum
June 7, 2019 7pm
Join your fellow Agate Enthusiasts for 5 Star Dining at the Doubletree Hilton Arboretum, and Lori Coleman's Keynote Address. On Friday night, we invite you to join us for the Keynote Address & Dinner at the Doubletree Hilton Arboretum!
Lori got her rockhounding bug while farming with her late husband in the Mississippi Delta in the 1980's. It started with picking up rocks in the field before planting then became a fascination with arrowheads on the surface after a good rain. She went on to collect petrified wood from the creeks and streams in the Mississippi hill country during hunting season. Family vacations to Arkansas were for fishing and collecting quartz crystals. After retiring they decided to move to Deming, NM to hunt for Thundereggs. This is where the Spanish Stirrup began. Propped on top of a hill not far from Rockhound State Park is Lori's home once called the Spanish Stirrup Guest Ranch. You see the same family that donated the ground where Rockhound State Park is now located is the family that founded and settled the area and called what is now Lori's home there at the ranch house. The name Spanish Stirrup came from the discovery of a conquistadors stirrup up in the Big Florida Mountain after a day of herding goats. It is placed in the saddle bag and taken back to the ranch. Later the road to Rockhound was named Stirrup Road.
Lori along with her children and fiancee Bruce have spent many days walking the Florida mountain and areas along the Mexican border, in search of Thundereggs. What started out as a hobby has now become a full blown disease. Lori now has over 1,500 acres of Federal, State and Private land with many mines.
Lori Lytle Coleman's most famous agates are Lava Cap and Eggzilla. She is now, because the volume of her operations, a commercial miner of Thundereggs. A savvy and hands-on miner, she writes all of her own mining plans of operation, and as a licensed big equipment operator, she is happiest down in the dirt finding new treasures.
Lori is a familiar face at all the major rock shows in New York, Wisconsin, Denver, Quartzite, Tucson and San Antonio. Her collection of Thunder Eggs is currently on display that the New Mexico Museum of mining to the delight of agate lovers lucky enough to visit. She has been featured in the prestigious German publication Mineralien Welt , The Wall Street Journal and Rock and Gem Magazine. Many agate fans know her from her features in the famous Gem Shop Agate Calendar the last 5 years running.
An engaging and knowledgeable speaker, Lori was also well received at the Denver Club show twice, and a speaker at the 2016 Agate Expo. Nature's Treasures Texas is honored to have her as the Keynote Speaker for the 2019 International Exposition of Agates in Austin, Texas.
Introducing Lori, we have Dale Gann as our Master of Ceremonies. Dale is a well known face in the Agate Community, participating in events around the country.
Dale Gann is an environmental engineer and has been accused of trying to impersonate a geologist. Growing up in Miami, FL there were very few opportunities to enjoy rock hounding. That changed one year when Dale and his parents went to Franklin, NC and visited one of the local gem mines. That sparked an interest in rocks that didn’t blossom until Dale and his family moved to Denver, CO and he attended his first gem and mineral show. Dale attended the 2005 Symposium on Agate and Cryptocrystalline Quartz and that sparked his continuing interest in agates. Dale has collected agates and thundereggs in 9 western states and has assembled a large collection of agates, geodes and thundereggs.
Seating for the Keynote Dinner and Speaker are limited, and it's filling up fast, so get your tickets now!
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