How Do I Set Up My Own Panning Party?

 

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Panning Party at Chasen’s Hotel & Goldmine in the Pocono Mountains, circa 1946.

HOW TO SET UP YOUR OWN PANNING PARTY

  1. Find a nonprofit that would be interested in having you raise money on their behalf with, specifically, a panning party.
  2. The minimum number of participants is one. Two people at $200 apiece, four people at $100 each, twenty people at $40 each, 200 people at $2 each for one Fat Pack, unless they buy additional paydirt Fat Packs, which you’d better have on hand. Most folks will pan three times before they give up in disgust — it’s then your job to show them how to succeed, and GIVE them a packet or two to try again. Don’t worry, you’ll find plenty of dumped gold flakes at the end of the day.
  3. Be prepared to spend $200 on the 200+ Fat Pack Paydirt, and if you expect more, you’ll need more mine runs of paydirt — it’s best not to be caught short on paydirt.
  4. You can charge anywhere from $2 a Fat Pack to $25 a Fat Pack for a chance to hit the nuggets — the charity for which you’re working will tell you what they would like. Myself, I’d charge two bucks and let everyone have a good time and relax with it.
  5. You can have a more expensive Fat Pack that yields bigger nuggets for the high rollers.
  6. You may wish to cater the event with finger-food, but be aware that panning is messy and needs cleanup before finger food or after.
  7. Use the PROSPERITY PATH PANNING PARTY PACKET to prepare your presentation, and mind your “p”s and “q”s.
  8. The presentation contains all you need to get started.
  9. You can show the DVD video or perform the demo yourself.
  10. Your first challenge will be to save BBs using the “ BB Panning Trainer Dirt Kit.
  11. The second challenge will be paydirt, paydirt, paydirt, with REAL GOLD in it, that you could easily lose over the side if you don’t pan precisely and correctly.
  12. You will need spill pans or troughs to catch the droppings, called “tailings”, which you’ll want to pan later on, so don’t dump it out onto the sidewalk.
  13. Your panning party will be a success, because even if NO ONE HITS, and with untouched paydirt, it IS possible, because you can have a panning contest with BBs or a draw by number or by ticket, or some of several other ways to find a “winner”.
  14. Your “winner” gets a PRIZE that I include, to give away to the winning panner, whether anyone finds gold nuggets or not.

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Gold Panning as a Spiritual Practice

 

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Gold Spiral recovering gold from paydirt.

OFFERTORY PRACTICES

Of course you’re familiar with the Catholic Offertory, where the bread and wine are ceremonially placed on the Altar, along with any offerings from the congregation. We do something similar, sending pure gold through the WormHole of Passage into the Bucket of No Return — I’ll explain in detail: Continue reading