Spring River Gem & Mineral Club announces 2025 meeting schedule

The Spring River Gem & Mineral Club will meet at 10 a.m. on the first Friday of each month, beginning in March, at Thunderbird Center, 62 N. Lakeshore Road, in Cherokee Village.

As part of an ongoing mini-series, “Only in Arkansas,” the club will feature programs highlighting unique aspects of the state’s history, geology, and culture.

Upcoming Programs:

• March 7: Only in Arkansas: The Archaeology and History of the Cherokee Village Area — Presented by archaeologist Jason Eeds, section head of the Cultural Resources Section at the Arkansas Department of Transportation. This talk will cover more than 12,000 years of history, exploring the people who once lived in what is now Cherokee Village, where they came from, and what they left behind.
• April 4: Only in Arkansas: Lithium Resources in Arkansas — Geologist Doug Hanson of the Arkansas Geological Survey will discuss the discovery of lithium in Arkansas and its potential impact on the state’s economy.
• May 2: Only in Arkansas: Notorious Arkansas Swindler—Dr. John Kizer — Dr. Rodney Harris, chair of the Department of History at Williams Baptist College, will share the true story of greed and murder surrounding this infamous figure.
• June 6: SRGMC Picnic.
• July 4: Born to Run: The Evolution of Human Locomotion — Dr. Jason Kennedy, assistant professor of anthropology at Lyon College, will provide an overview of the development of bipedalism, beginning roughly 22 million years ago, and the biological adaptations that allowed humans to run and walk upright.
• Aug. 1: Only in Arkansas: How to Talk Ozark, Part One — Dr. Brooks Blevins, Missouri State University professor of Ozark studies, will present a lighthearted look at the early ethnic and cultural influences on the Ozarks through dialect and accent.
• Sept. 5: The Ghost Dance — Historian Kenton Adler of Lyon College will explore the Ghost Dance ceremony, which incorporated multiple Native American belief systems and spread across tribes in the East and West. The presentation will examine the dance’s origins, its practice, and the reasons it was ultimately abandoned.
• Oct. 3: Rock Salt: Studying Squeezy Rocks — Dr. Bari Hanafi, assistant professor of geology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will discuss rock salt, a unique type of rock that flows like a liquid under geological stress.
• Nov. 7: Exploring Fluorescence — Geologist Mike Howard, an honorary SRGMC member and retired Arkansas Geological Survey expert, will discuss Arkansas’ fluorescent minerals and present a light show featuring their glowing properties.
• Dec. 5: SRGMC Christmas Party.