Permian Fest in Seymour Texas!

[JamieLynn]

 

There is a tiny town in Texas called Seymour.  It has two stoplights.  It's tiny. But there is a museum there - the Whiteside Museum of Natural History which is primarily dedicated to Permian Era fossils because there are the famous Red Beds very nearby, of which this museum has access to. So they put together the inaugural Permian Fest held last weekend.  Not only did they have digs and auctions and fancy fund-raising dinner, but some of the best paleontologists from around the US gave presentations. I got to meet Carl Mehling, Jimmy Waldron and the infamous Dr Robert Bakker as well as some other amazing people!  There were book signings, a bake sale (got a blueberry pie!), paleontological origami and of course...vendors! I had my little set up (8 tables worth!!) of tshirts, artwork, fossil art and more.  It was quite the weekend. But of course, I did a little fossil hunting on the way up and back!

 

Permian Fest:

 

Me and Dr. Robert Bakker (my mom worked at the Peabody Museum at Yale when I was in utero and she worked with Dr .Bakkers first wife - so I "sort of" met him a long time ago....hahahah)

 

a few of the displays from the Whiteside:

My favorite! The Diplocaulus!

 

My second favorite - Edaphosaurus

 

 

and of course, a Dimetrodon

 

So I found myself a couple of Permian roadcuts to check out - none are vertebrate sites, all were marine invertebrates, but I had not collected any marine Permian stuff, so I was happy to add it to my collection.

 

An interesting bryozoan cluster

 

 

corals and crinoids

 

I'm assuming this is Lophophylidium coral. I am not at all familiar with Permian stuff and am assuming that much of this is the same as the Texas

Pennsylvanian fauna

 

A few other nice things:

Brachiopod

 

Crinoid

 

 

I'm always happy when I find some Echinoid stuff .

 

another brachiopod

 

One of the roadcuts had amazing hash plates....full of bryozoans and such.

 

 

 

 

But my final stop yielded my best fossil find....not Permian, but back to my familiar Cretaceous stomping grounds! My biggest and best preserved Leptosalenia mexicana from the Walnut Formation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JohnJ]

That had to be an amazing experience.  @dinodigger Chris has been a leader on Permian vertebrates.  

[hadrosauridae]

1 minute ago, JohnJ said:

That had to be an amazing experience.  @dinodigger Chris has been a leader on Permian vertebrates.  

 

OMG, I didn't know Chris was a member here!  Not surprised, all the best people are members.

 

@JamieLynn That was a great write up.  It was a great time, and my favorite part was meeting Dr. Bakker.  I wish I had known another member was there, so I could have said "hi".  I'm sure I saw you as I strolled through the vendor tent.

[PaleoPastels]

Looks like a wonderful time! Holly and her partner are amazing and total inspiration! I got to meet them in December and the museum is lovely. It definitely feels bigger in the inside than it looks on the outside; I love that a lot of their museum are self-finds from trips! Im also a fan of their 3 famous Diplocaulus!!! I wish I could have gone to go get one! (My best friends took me out somewhere else and I had weekend classes with a lab assignment so I unfortunately had to miss out on Permian Fest)

 

Lovely urchin on the way back! What a beauty 

[Nimravis]

Great write up and I love your finds.

[deutscheben]

What a neat museum and event! It’s great to see some of the Paleozoic era get attention like this. Thanks for sharing.
 

I actually met Dr. Bakker about 25 years ago at PaleoFest in Rockford, Illinois and won a shirt that he hand-drew a Dimetrodon on. Now if I could only remember where I put it…

[Carl]

I can't recommend Chris Flis ( @dinodigger ) and the Whiteside crew enough. Genuinely awesome and generous. And, boy, do they know how to throw a conference! Go next year!

[JamieLynn]

HI @Carl!! Now I know who you are on the FF! Easy enough...since its CARL hahhahaha Hope you found some good finds while here in Texas! 

[Carl]

16 minutes ago, JamieLynn said:

HI @Carl!! Now I know who you are on the FF! Easy enough...since its CARL hahhahaha Hope you found some good finds while here in Texas! 

We did GREAT! Check out my other post!

[JamieLynn]

On 3/9/2023 at 2:11 PM, Carl said:

We did GREAT! Check out my other post!

uh yeah you did!! As John J will note....I have been trying UNSUCESSFULLY for three years to find a Tetragramma taffi. So I'm actually quite jealous but I am happy that Texas treated you well! hahhahah

[Vleuver]

That dimetrodon skull though...!

[erose]

Nice report! We missed you in Jacksboro but knew you were up the road and having fun. That is a very nice S. mexicana by the way.