2020 was a record year for the Crater of Diamonds State Park

2020 was a record breaking year for diamond finds at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Pike County. Despite the many changes brought on by COVID-19, more than 129,000 people visited the park in search of diamonds.

Visitors found 71 diamonds during the first three months of 2020 until the diamond search area closed from March 21 to May 22, due to a growing number of COVID-19 cases. After the search area reopened, visitors registered nearly two diamonds per day through the rest of the spring season.

The first day of summer also brought the year’s first two-carat-plus diamond. Beatrice Watkins, of Mena, Ark., found a 2.23-carat dark brown diamond on June 20 while dry sifting on the upstream side of a culvert. It was about the size of an English pea, with an oblong shape and a metallic gleam. It was the year’s fifth-largest find.

Labor Day 2020 was an historic day for the park, when Kevin Kinard, of Maumelle, Ark., went diamond mining with his friends. Kinard was surface searching on the south end of the search area when he picked up a brown, marble-sized gem with a dimpled surface. Upon having his find identified by park staff, Kinard learned that he had discovered a 9.07-carat diamond, the second-largest ever found at the Crater.