There’s much to see and do for community members in Oklahoma.
Enjoy documentarian and conservationist Peter McBride and Kevin Fedarko, coming to the Tulsa PAC on Nov. 14 courtesy Tulsa Town Hall. For those who love to stay active, the Williams Route 66 Marathon and Half Marathon takes place Nov. 22-23 in Downtown Tulsa. And for a taste of the holiday season a bit early, venture to Rhema Bible Church for the Rhema Christmas Lights, starting Nov 27, or Tulsa Botanic’s Garden of Lights, beginning Nov. 28.
In OKC, the Edmond Ice Rink at Mitch Park opens Nov. 7 for those looking to get outside and feel the festive vibes. Other goodies include the OKC Renaissance and Scottish Festival, Nov. 8-9 at the OKC Fairgrounds, as well as the Oklahoma City Tree Lighting Festival, Nov. 13 at Mickey Mantle Plaza. You won’t want to miss the Red Earth TreeFest, running Nov. 13-Dec. 31 at BancFirst Tower, or the Turkey Tracks 5K, happening Nov. 27 and starting at 305 NW 5th St.
Around the state, you’ll get a little bit of everything. Try the Oklahoma Pelican Festival, Nov. 8 at 251 E. Main St. in Ardmore, or the Eufaula Veterans Day Parade, Nov. 11 on Main Street. Holiday events abound; visit the Chickasha Festival of Light, Nov. 20-Dec. 31 at Shannon Springs Park; Castle Christmas, Nov. 27-Dec. 31 at the Castle of Muskogee; or the Woolaroc Wonderland of Lights, Nov. 28-Dec. 31 in Bartlesville.
November is here and it brings with it cold weather, Thanksgiving and the perfect escape from the extended family – more excellent movies to see!
Starting off strong, we have Predator: Badlands. The seventh film in the mainline Predator franchise, the movie’s plot follows a young Predator on a remote planet that teams up with an unlikely ally, an android named Thia, as they search for the ultimate adversary. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, this film will be his third outing in the Predator world after Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers, both of which were well-received. He seems poised for another win here when it releases on Nov. 7.
For a dystopian thriller, look no further than The Running Man. Based on the 1982 novel by Stephen King, the story follows the eponymous game show where one “runner” must stay alive for 30 days while a group of hunters try to track him down and kill him. The film boasts a stacked cast including Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick), Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men), Coleman Domingo (Sing Sing) and William H. Macy (Shameless). Directed by Edgar Wright, known for his cinematic flair with films like Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver, this adaptation is shaping up to be one of the best of the year. It releases on Nov. 14.
If you want a coming-of-age comedy, don’t miss Jay Kelly. Famous actor Jay Kelly (George Clooney) begins a trip through Europe with his manager, Ron (Adam Sandler), which winds up having a profound impact on both men. Directed by Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story), the film looks to have a lot of charm from both of the leading men, and it’s always a joy to see Sandler stepping outside his acting comfort zone. It releases on Nov. 14 in limited theaters before coming to Netflix in December.
For a comedy-drama with an interesting premise, check out Rental Family. The film stars Brendan Fraser (The Whale) as a lonely American actor living in Tokyo who starts working at a rental family service, which provides stand-in roles for people’s lives. As he continues the new job, he finds unexpected joy from interacting with his new family. The trailer looks to have a lot of laughs and heartfelt moments to spare. It releases on Nov. 21.
If you need more action, Sisu: Road to Revenge should have you covered. A sequel to the 2022 film Sisu, the movie’s plot follows the unkillable Finish Army commando Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) as he tries to rebuild his family’s home in 1946 to honor their deaths during World War II. The Red Army discovers this and vows to kill him. If this is anything like the first film, which consisted of one man absolutely dismantling a German platoon with some of the most cathartic kills put to screen, then this sequel should hopefully be just as magnificent to watch when it releases on Nov. 21.
Krystal Reyes, Tulsa’s Deputy Mayor, oversees education, youth and resilience initiatives, and also helped establish the City’s first Office of Children, Youth and Families. Reyes was formerly Tulsa’s Chief Resilience Officer, where she led major equity and community initiatives, including the Resilient Tulsa Strategy and the City’s Financial Empowerment Center. A longtime public servant with city leadership and nonprofit experience in New York City and Tulsa, Reyes has also made history as the City’s first Latina Deputy Mayor. We caught up with Reyes and got her thoughts on …
… what drew her away from New York to Tulsa.
It is an interesting story that intertwines both my personal and professional interests — but bottom line is that Tulsa was on my radar because of Bob Dylan. I have been a fan of Dylan’s music since I was about 13 years old, and several years ago I was following the news that Tulsa had acquired his archives. I reached out to a former colleague who I worked with in city government in New York who had moved to Tulsa a couple years prior, and she shared that I really should check out Tulsa. I found myself visiting Tulsa for a day. In that short trip I met some amazing people working in city government and the nonprofit sector doing great work and I thought to myself, “Something interesting is happening in Tulsa.” A few months later, former Mayor G.T. Bynum reached out to me, letting me know he was looking for a new Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) to lead his office’s Resilient Tulsa Strategy and the City’s racial equity and resilience work.
Everything in that strategy touched on something I had done in my career in city government and in the nonprofit sector in New York. I had an interview, another visit to Tulsa, and within a few months of that email from the Mayor, I had moved to Tulsa.
… the new Office of Children, Youth, and Families.
Mayor Nichols campaigned on several priorities – one of which was improving student outcomes. To advance this priority, he called for the creation of an office that would oversee a citywide strategy to coordinate resources and recommend policies and programs to improve outcomes along the ‘cradle to career’ continuum for children and youth in Tulsa. We also have launched a policy and decision-making body, called the Tulsa Children’s Cabinet.
For the first time, the City is bringing together the leaders of institutions and systems that impact the conditions in which Tulsa youth are living and learning, to work together to achieve a goal of putting an additional 15,000 youth on a path to economic mobility. That goal means that children starting from birth until they launch their careers, are healthy, meeting educational milestones, accessing and participating in opportunities that will help them in the future, and navigating the transition to adulthood via higher education or career training, and ultimately obtaining a great job.
The first year of this initiative will involve forming the children’s cabinet and creating the civic infrastructure of the office. We hope to implement small-scale pilot interventions and policies that data show will improve outcomes across housing, attendance and educational milestones.
… her historic appointment and how it will impact the next generation of Latino leaders.
Latinos are still underrepresented in city government, in commissions and other key sectors. And this is true at all levels of government, from state legislatures, county governments all the way up to Congress and the White House. That isn’t something that can be fixed overnight, but I feel it is up to me and those in positions of leadership to help others see themselves in positions like this. I know how important representation is, because I didn’t see anyone who looked like me in positions of power growing up. It never crossed my mind that I could be a leader in city government. But it was through leadership programs in college and subsequent internship and mentorship programs that I was able to connect with other Latinos in public service doing public service work across the country.
Those opportunities helped me have the confidence to keep going and see myself working in government or leading an organization. It is my hope that more under-represented communities see themselves having successful careers in government.
… prioritizing mental health.
We are moving mental health work to the newly created office of community health and well-being led by our Chief Health Officer Dr. Jabraan Pasha. I am grateful that Mayor Nichols sees this work as an important part of the city’s efforts to impact social outcomes. When I was CRO and we first started the commission on youth mental health, some folks in city government didn’t think we had a role to play in this space as we didn’t fund programs and we didn’t have regulatory authority over mental health. Others I talked to thought the City shouldn’t even have a commission. But ultimately, that commission showed that there is an interest, desire and place for this work and cities can be leaders of it.
A few years later, with support of one of the member organizations of the commission, the City was able to secure a federal grant to improve children’s mental health. In addition, due to the great work and recommendation from the Housing, Homelessness, and Mental Health taskforce, the City put in its budget funding to hire the first City employee dedicated to mental heath. All of those were steps that helped pave the way for more collaboration and strategic alignment to yield improved outcomes for some of our most vulnerable residents.
… applying an equity lens to city services.
I had experience implementing racial equity practices in government in New York City, and was able to apply a similar approach in Tulsa. First, talking about these issues and normalizing them is key. Through community dialogues and community engagement, we helped Tulsans understand the definition of resilience and equity and embedded it through our work. It is also important to organize or bring people and organizations together to be involved in this work. This can look like advisory boards, planning groups, community engagement events, engaging commissions, etc. Another key approach is institutionalizing the work by creating systems and policies that are based on data and best practices to keep the work moving and embedded for the long term.
Preliminary renderings of the $1 billion OKC Thunder stadium were released in mid-July. All renderings courtesy MANICA
Development of the highly anticipated $1 billion arena in downtown Oklahoma City is well underway. Marking a major step in the project, Mayor David Holt unveiled preliminary design renderings of the arena in July.
Featuring a 360-degree glass curtain and optimized seating, the new arena has been fundamental to securing the Thunder as Oklahoma City’s NBA team for the next 25 years. To fulfill its part of the historic deal with the all-star sports team, the City must finish constructing the arena by the summer of 2028.
The Arena’s Necessity
The Thunder, formerly known as the Seattle SuperSonics, relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008. First opened in 2002, the Paycom Center has served as the home court for the team ever since.
However, the design of the Paycom Center has been less than ideal for basketball fans. The center was built for hockey sporting events, and it remains the NBA’s smallest arena by square footage. When the Thunder’s arena use agreement for the Paycom expired in 2022, city officials grew concerned.
Holt described retaining the NBA team as one of the most important challenges of his tenure.
“Without a new arena, we wouldn’t be the long-term home of any major league professional sports team, and without that foundation as a big-league city, we would have a very different and diminished canvas upon which to paint,” he said in his State of the City Address last year.
OKC voters approved a one-cent sales tax that would finance the arena – with a whopping 71% majority.
Gaining Public Approval & Funding
The people of Oklahoma City seemed to agree with Holt. In 2023, voters approved a one-cent sales tax that would finance the arena with an overwhelming 71% majority.
“Clearly, it shows support for our basketball team,” says David Todd, who serves as project manager for the area and for the MAPS program. MAPS – the visionary series of municipal capital improvement initiatives in Oklahoma City – are all funded via temporary, one-cent sales taxes that are voted on by OKC residents. “I hope it also represents the trust that people have in the City to execute on the project properly.”
The sales tax will go into effect in 2028 and last for a 72-month period. It will yield $900 million in funding overall.
The Thunder ownership group has agreed to provide another $50 million for the arena. And in addition to the sales tax, the city has reallocated $78 million of MAPS 4 funding that was originally earmarked for renovations to the Paycom Center.
With its $1 billion+ price tag, the arena is one of Oklahoma City’s most expensive developments to date.
“This is our city’s fourth downtown arena, but it is our first true NBA arena, designed for basketball. It will be a much better experience for fans. It is also the first time we, as a city, have embarked upon a sports venue project with a budget befitting a big-league city,” Holt remarked in his most recent State of the City Address in July.
Finalizing the Design & Construction
In October 2024, the city council selected MANICA as the leading design firm and TVS as the architect of record for the project. Based in Kansas City, MANICA has extensive experience designing sports and entertainment arenas, including the Chase Center in San Francisco and the Toyota Center in Houston.
“They were one of the architect firms that bid on the project that did not come with preconceived notions,” says Dan Mahoney, vice president of broadcasting and communications at the Thunder. “They came to see what the team wanted, what the city wanted and what the community wanted.”
In June – after two years of negotiations – the Thunder signed a 25-year agreement to remain in Oklahoma City. Their presence in OKC, within this new arena, will generate an estimated $590 million in annual revenue. Preliminary designs for the stadium estimate it to be 750,000 square feet, which is a 30% increase from the Paycom Center. The new arena will feature widened concourses and a surplus of restaurants and bars with a focus on fan experience.
The preliminary design for the arena is 750,000 square feet — a 30% increase from the Paycom Center’s square footage. It features widened concourses, a surplus of restaurants and bars, a Thunder Alley, and as promised, improved seating.
“The fan experience is really what we’re all interested in, and the Thunder certainly is interested in it, too,” says Todd. “We want to try and get the people closer to the action.”
This March, the city council approved hiring Flintco and Mortensen for the construction of the arena, which will be located on the site of the former Myriad Convention Center currently undergoing demolition. Construction is expected to kick off the first quarter of 2026.
Expected Economic Impact
In June, after 2 years of negotiations, the Thunder and the City entered into a 25-year agreement that will ensure the sports team remains in Oklahoma City through 2058. The 115-page lease includes some of the strongest penalties for early departure in the history of the NBA.
The economic implications of this deal are significant. In a study commissioned by OKC VeloCity – the Greater OKC Chamber of Commerce’s newsletter – the new arena will generate an estimated $590 million in annual revenue. It will also create upwards of 10,000 jobs during the construction phase, and it will create another 2,500 facility and hospitality jobs when opened.
Until then, the city has its work cut out.
“We always look forward to the ribbon-cutting ceremony,” says Todd. “Knowing that we’re instrumental in providing the facility and watching people enjoy it, is always very rewarding.”
Featured photo credit: Preliminary renderings of the $1 billion OKC Thunder stadium were released in mid-July. All renderings courtesy MANICA
OKC’s Paseo Arts District encourages in-person shopping and engagement through monthly events, artist incubators and varied shopping options.
Photo by Connor Albrightson courtesy the Paseo Arts District
When Onikah Asamoa-Caesar added wine to the menu of her bookstore and coffee shop in July, it wasn’t just for fun. It was a strategic move to encourage even more folks — beyond readers and coffee drinkers — to gather at Fulton Street Books & Coffee in downtown Tulsa.
“It’s really about connection,” Asamoa-Caesar says. “I think everyone really wants to connect with other people and be somewhere where they feel safe, they feel seen and where they’re reflected in the space that they’re in. That’s what we try to offer at Fulton Street.”
But in a world of convenience provided by online shopping, brick and mortar businesses around the state have been tasked with the challenge of getting customers through their doors while also reaching them through digital platforms.
One way Asamoa-Caesar is doing that is partnering with online bookstores — like bookshop.org and libro.fm — which support local shops by sharing a percentage of the customer’s purchase.
“As a bookstore, one of the biggest competitors is Amazon when it comes to people getting their book shipped,” she says. “We’re able to offer just about any book anyone could want online shipped within three days directly to their home. Having that allows us just to reach customers that aren’t going to come downtown Tulsa and aren’t going to come into the store, but still want a book and want to support indie bookstores.”
Social media engagement is how Asamoa-Caesar drives both in person and online traffic, with a targeted presence on Instagram.
“We try to find ways to engage with our followers and I think we have about 16,000 now,” she says. “We post about books and we post about events. It’s a good way for us to just get the word out when new things are happening, like our wine launch.”
Main Street districts — concentrated areas of local business and commerce, often in historic areas of town — are dedicated to understanding the challenges and innovations faced by local shop owners as they compete with e-commerce.
The Paseo Arts District, located in Oklahoma City, is home to more than 20 art galleries, as well as restaurants, boutiques and entertainment venues. Executive director Amanda Bleakley says that supporting local artists is at the heart of her work.
“We support a community that is art-centric,” she says. “We are a retail space, but we’re also providing artists with training and development to better manage their own careers or show their work in other galleries. We write grants, have an incubator space that is open to the public and we also put on events that bring people to the area.”
The Paseo Arts District hosts a ‘First Friday’ Gallery Walk every first Friday of the month, rain or shine, from 6-9 p.m.
Broken Arrow’s Rose District — 10 square blocks of charming shops and restaurants accented by hundreds of colorful and fragrant rose bushes — is helping its merchants survive and thrive in the digital age through targeted social media messages that bring shoppers to an area that is an exciting and convenient outing.
“Each of our businesses is unique in their digital strategies,” says Brent Brassfield, the district’s business retention and development coordinator. “I think the ones who are most successful really define who their audience is and market to them on a regular basis. But it’s not just on the merchants — Rose District is also constantly promoting events and, for example, that we recently added 115 parking spaces because parking can be an issue that keeps people from coming to a downtown area. We want it to be easy, but you have to get the word out so they will come.”
[Editor’s note: Fulton Street Books announced that it would be shutting down after five years of operation after this story went to press.]
The Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition works to empower Oklahoma voters by demanding legislative accountability for rural public education.
Oklahoma has long faced challenges in education. But in July, WalletHub released its 2025 study, States with the Best and Worst School Systems. Using information from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Education, ACT scores and other components, the study ranked Oklahoma at 50th out of 51st (with Washington D.C. included) in quality of public schools, ahead of only New Mexico. For many, the numbers place rural schools in the crosshairs.
Robert Trammell, executive director of the Organization of Rural Oklahoma Schools, says rural education has to overcome large barriers including class sizes, the diversity of equipment and access of multi-level disciplines.
Erika Wright, founder of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition (ORSC), agrees, and mentions that rural teachers and staff are “the only consistent source of services for kids,” with rural educators doing more with less, often stretching across multiple roles and responsibilities. “In more remote areas, recruiting and retraining teachers is a major hurdle.”
Plus, rural districts have difficulty passing bonds to upgrade facilities and broadband, and “the ongoing teacher shortage, particularly in critical areas like special education, math, science and arts,” poses another problem, Wright adds. Add onto that the uncertainty of federal dollars and the confusion at the state level, and rural schools are fighting tough odds.
But Brandon Dutcher, senior vice president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, says that, “some rural districts spend extraordinary amounts. The Billings school district, for example, spends $25,211 per student. Per-student spending is $21,569 in Nashoba, $25,583 in Dover, $31,020 in Taloga, and $23,734 in Frontier. And yet the taxpayers’ return on investment in many districts continues to disappoint. That tells us the problem runs deeper than dollars.”
Despite complicated and deep-seeded issues, many passionate folks are working to help fill the gaps – and need your help in doing so.
“Donate to classroom or teachers’ wish lists or foundation projects,” says Wright, adding that attending school board meetings, rallying faith communities to adopt a school or provide support, and advocating for affordable housing, broadband and childcare in your area will help.
“Show up at the polls and support your board and administration ideals,” adds Trammell.
Dutcher agrees that teachers and administrators need support from outside sources.
“Parents and citizens must step up to the plate: volunteer in classrooms, tutor a struggling reader, or run for school board,” he says.
A silver lining? Many efforts are well underway in helping Oklahoma schools thrive.
“Led by local patrons, local public school foundations have done a good job at creating sustainable endowment funds to provide classroom grants, professional development opportunities and student scholarships,” says Wright. “Direct partnerships with tribal nations are also providing additional resources.”
She continues: “In Watonga, collaboration between schools and tribal offices from the Cheyenne and Arapaho nations has cut absenteeism. The federal Community Eligibility Provision program enables schools to offer breakfast and lunch at no charge. In Oklahoma, approximately 256 districts now participate, providing free meals to around 277,458 students, or about 40% of all public school students in the state.”
The 42nd annual Grove Pelican Festival, organized in part by the Grand Lake Audubon Society, is set for Oct. 2-5 in Grove’s Wolf Creek Park.
Photo courtesy the Grand Lake Audubon Society
A pair of binoculars and a guide to the most common birds of Oklahoma might be handy resources for ardent bird watchers in Oklahoma, but Neil Garrison of Oklahoma City has another tool: his ears.
Garrison, retired after a 30-year career as the naturalist at Oklahoma City’s Martin Park Nature Center, says he most enjoys identifying birds by their sounds. At Martin Park, he oversaw the 140-acre nature center’s guided hikes, educational programs and interactive learning center, and still conducts a monthly walking tour of its wooded trails.
“It is very difficult to actually watch birds,” Garrison explains. “They’re small and energetic; they hide out in bushes and trees. What I emphasize is birding by ear. You can identify them by the sound. They can’t hide their voices.”
Garrison is one of a number of birding enthusiasts around Oklahoma who enjoy spotting and identifying the many hundreds of bird species that can be spotted throughout the year, depending on seasonal migration. He says popular spots around Oklahoma City for birding are lakes Overholser and Hefner, and Edmond’s J.L. Mitch Park and E.C. Hafer Park.
Audubon Society chapters are active in several parts of Oklahoma, including Tulsa, Grove (Grand Lake o’ The Cherokees) and Oklahoma City.
Another proponent of listening (as well as watching) for birds is Kimberly Chaps, president of Grand Lake’s reorganized Audubon Society, which she says regularly attracts 20 to 40 people to monthly meetings in Grove. Her advice to new birdwatchers is to get a pair of good binoculars and an Oklahoma bird guide, then download an app to a smart phone that can identify a particular bird by its song.
“You can put your phone down in your yard and the app will identify the bird,” she says. “As it’s hearing it, it’s recording.”
Mary Jackson, president of the Tulsa Audubon Society, says Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center is a popular spot for seeing a wide variety of birds, including scissortail flycatchers, northern flickers, painted buntings, chickadees, painted wrens, eastern bluebirds, Carolina wrens, barn owls and bald eagles – “just all sorts of species of birds,” she says.
Another good birding spot near Tulsa is Woodland Park in Broken Arrow, where the local Audubon Society meets.
Jackson says that not only does she enjoy birding in the Tulsa area, she’s made numerous trips to other parts of Oklahoma, where she encounters different species. She notes that bird populations across the U.S. have declined over the past 50 years, due to habitat loss, collisions with windows and predation by cats. To protect the bird population, she urges people to cultivate native plants in their yards, limit pesticide usage and keep their feline friends indoors. She also advises that people use less outdoor lighting during peak migration periods.
Chaps, meanwhile, says one of the most popular birds that comes to the Grand Lake area during its migration is the majestic white American pelican, which she says arrives “by the thousands.” In fact, the town dedicates an entire weekend to the arrival of the large birds each fall.
The 42nd annual Grove Pelican Festival is set for Oct. 2-5 in Grove’s Wolf Creek Park. Chaps says assisting with the festival is one of the Audubon Society’s primary activities.
Grand Lake, Oklahoma City and Tulsa Audubon Society members participate in the National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas bird count, which seeks to count the bird populations throughout the Americas annually. According to its website, the Oklahoma City Audubon Society’s Christmas bird count yielded 109 species in the OKC metro area alone.
Affordability is a major draw of barndominiums – with price per square foot averaging around $140 as opposed to a traditional home, which runs around $200.
Barndominiums — barndos for short — have emerged as a popular choice for home construction, particularly in rural and country settings, due to their unique combination of flexibility, cost-effectiveness and aesthetic appeal. These structures blend the rustic charm of a barn with the elegance of a modern home and offer several key advantages that set them apart from traditional homes.
One of the primary barndo attractions is their design flexibility.
“The exterior walls and the truss system will carry the load of the roof, allowing for zero need for load-bearing interior walls,” says Jake Warren, an estimator at Polar Bear Jack’s Home Services and Okie Barndominiums, both based in Broken Arrow.
This structural feature enables homeowners to craft creative and customized floor plans, including hidden rooms and pantries, without the constraints of traditional load-bearing walls. Warren notes that this flexibility is a significant draw for clients seeking to build their dream homes affordably, with turnkey barndominiums starting at $140 per square foot compared to $200 per square foot for most traditional homes.
Cost savings are another critical factor driving the barndo popularity. Warren says his company’s hybrid barndominium model, which combines traditional home construction techniques with barndominium elements, reduces costs through in-house trade work and established vendor relationships.
“We have cost savings throughout the entire build process,” says Warren, though he acknowledges challenges such as the expense of utilities in rural areas, including wells, septic systems and propane tanks.
Energy efficiency is also a compelling advantage.
“Having the perfect combination of insulation, a load-calculated HVAC design and high-efficiency windows and doors can save a homeowner many future dollars,” says Warren. This efficiency, combined with the durability of steel structures, which resist pests, fire, mold and weather better than wood, makes barndos a low-maintenance option.
Ryan Martinez, president and CEO of the Oklahoma Home Builders Association, says that as we continue to see the increased cost of traditional homes “due to rising costs of raw materials, labor shortages and overregulation, many Americans — and Oklahomans — will be more creative with the places in which they live.”
Zoning and financing are manageable aspects of barndominium construction. Warren notes that code requirements vary by location, but barndominiums can be financed and insured like any other home, with some insurance companies offering discounts due to the use of metal roofing.
However, Martinez warns that financing can be more tedious, with lenders potentially requiring larger down payments or higher interest rates due to the niche nature of these structures, which can impact resale value.
Current barndo market trends include a shift towards luxury designs and a response to the broader housing policy crisis. Warren mentions a $1 million, two-story barndominium project that exemplifies the growing demand for upscale versions, while Martinez observes that “as homes become less and less attainable for young people and the middle class, barndos, tiny homes and prefabs will continue to grow in popularity.”
This trend is particularly impacting rural development in Oklahoma, where land is being sought after for barndominium builds, reflecting a desire for the barn aesthetic with modern amenities.
Barndominiums offer a compelling alternative to traditional homes, driven by their design flexibility, cost savings, energy efficiency and appeal to rural lifestyles. As the housing market evolves, these structures are likely to play an increasingly significant role in addressing affordability and creativity in home building.
Students at Del City High School celebrate Halloween festivities in 1973. Photo by Roger Artman courtesy the Oklahoma Historical Society
Halloween is a celebration of the spooky and scary, which is fitting for a holiday whose origins are shrouded in mystery. The beginnings of Halloween are uncertain indeed, which can contribute to the fun around this trick-and-treat filled celebration.
The history of the holiday can be traced fairly confidently back through the eighth century, when Pope Gregory III moved the religious holiday All Saints Day from May to November. The reasons for this move are heavily debated, and we may never know Pope Gregory’s motives, but what we do know is that All Saints Day was also known as All Hallows Day, making Oct. 31 All Hallows Eve. Over time, this title was shortened to Halloween.
One possible reason for the calendar move was the earlier Celtic celebration of Samhain (pronounced: SAH-win), which meant the end of summer and was celebrated on Nov. 1. The Celts, an agrarian society, tied their calendar closely to the changing of the seasons and the Earth’s rotation around the sun. Samhain marked the midpoint between the September equinox and the December solstice.
The beginnings of this celebration and its details are hazy. Still, Celtic society generally regarded Samhain as a time when the veil between the natural world and the spiritual world was thin. The lore was that this allowed for spiritual encounters of all kinds.
As the holiday moved forward in time, it was primarily celebrated in rural areas. By the beginning of the 20th century, however, the party had moved to cities as well and had taken on a darker, more destructive flavor. Young people would roam, performing tricks unless mollified by candy and treats. City dwellers began to formalize the celebrations in the ’20s and ’30s to reduce the level of mayhem. By the ’50s, movies began depicting the holiday in a more light-hearted way, and schools started to get in on the fun.
So, while it’s true that much of Halloween’s history is a mystery, it wouldn’t be as fun any other way.
Halloween Rituals & Customs
Halloween has several long-practiced rituals and customs, but they have changed over time to what we know today.
Pumpkin carving: This fun tradition has deep roots, but pumpkins were not involved in the holiday initially. During Samhain, people would carve root vegetables such as turnips, radishes and sweet potatoes and add a candle. The idea of cutting a vegetable and putting a light inside represented life — and was considered beneficial for the harvest.
Costumes: Donning costumes during Halloween also traces its origins to the celebration of Samhain, although motivations were different. People would use costumes to hide from spirits who were said to be out and about during this time of the year.
Trick or treating: The practice of going door to door to ask for candy has perhaps changed the most from its original incarnation. During Samhain, people would go about performing pranks because they could be blamed on spirits. Treats and snacks were then offered to spirits in an attempt to curb these practices. Young people later capitalized on this custom to go door to door, threatening pranks unless treats were offered. Thankfully, in the modern era, the practice has shifted its focus from destructive tricks to cute children in costumes requesting candy from willing participants.
A couple of months ago, I wrote in this space about the Bluegrass & Chili Festival, one of Oklahoma’s longest-lived annual musical events. In that column, director Dell Davis explained how she’d had to move the festival from Pryor to Tahlequah for 2025 because of a date conflict with the Mayes County Fair.
Since its 1979 origin, the Bluegrass & Chili Festival has been staged in only five northeastern Oklahoma cities: Tulsa, Claremore, Wagoner, Pryor and, this year, Tahlequah. Pryor only had it for a single appearance, in 2024. That was enough, however, for local leaders and others to see what a free live-music presentation could do for their city.
“Last year, we got presented with the idea, we set it all up, and of course we were working with Dell, who is fabulous,” says Zac Doyle, Pryor’s mayor. “We collaborated with our Main Street [Program], our Chamber [of Commerce], our Economic Development Agency and we went all in. We had about three months to put it together, we put it together, and it was a total success.
“We made sure our businesses downtown knew that this was for them, that they’d have some revenues, and at the end of the day every one of them had record sales. Every vendor that we had out here on the street said it was the best day they’d ever had. We had some of the artists, their agents, reach back to us and offer to help; they said from an artist’s perspective the venue in Pryor was top-notch.”
It brought out a top-notch crowd, too, with an estimated 10,000 showing up for the weekend festivities. So, when the Bluegrass & Chili Festival left for Tahlequah, the townspeople who’d worked with Davis decided to begin their own annual bluegrass event. And so was born the Pryor Creek Bluegrass and BBQ Festival, set for Oct. 17 and 18 in downtown Pryor.
Photo by C. Coffey Photography
Set for Oct. 17-18, the inaugural Pryor Creek Bluegrass and BBQ Festival aims to broaden the bluegrass genre and offer ample family-oriented entertainment. Photos courtesy Brett Binghamunless otherwise marked
“You know,” Doyle says, “Pryor is notorious for its music festivals. We’ve got Rocklahoma and Born & Raised, and collectively, those two alone will bring about 100,000 people into our town. So now we’re rolling with the bluegrass, with the idea of the free family-friendly music and atmosphere. We’ve had nothing but tremendous support from sponsors and the community.”
In addition to switching the spotlighted food to barbecue – “Who doesn’t love barbecue in October?” asks Doyle rhetorically – this event also “broadens the ‘bluegrass’ definition a little bit.” That’s according to Brett Bingham, who worked with the famed Oklahoma-based booking agent Ray Bingham to line up the talent for the inaugural Pryor Creek Bluegrass and BBQ Festival.
“They [the organizers] reached out to Ray Bingham Productions, asking for help with the entertainment, and Ray and I have worked tirelessly to secure the best possible lineup for the festival,” says Brett Bingham, himself a veteran booking agent and manager, who’s also Ray’s nephew. (And, in the interest of full disclosure, I should say that Brett has written two books with me, Twentieth-Century Honky-Tonk, about the Cain’s Ballroom, and Thanks – Thanks A Lot, the as-told-to biography of country-music legend Billy Parker.)
“The event last year was wildly successful in Pryor,” he adds, “and it was a total joint effort.
We’re going to try to do something similar, but we’re going to stretch the boundaries a little bit. I don’t want to alienate people who are bluegrass fans. They’re going to see [bluegrass stars] like Ralph Stanley II, One-Eyed Jack and the Cox Family. We’ve got some strong bluegrass acts. We also have people like an up-and-comer from Ada, Emily Rhyne, who was a contestant on The Voice. She’s a little more country-leaning, but she’s somewhat traditional, too.”
“We’re not as stringent on the qualifications for bluegrass,” notes Doyle. “I think we’re pretty flexible on the definition of what it is. The main thing is that we’re looking for something close to that genre that’s family-friendly and free.”
A six-person Pryor-based group called Lightly Salted is set to begin the Pryor Creek Bluegrass and Barbecue Festival at 5 p.m. Friday. The band members’ Facebook page calls them a “rock and soul cover band,” adding that the group plans to offer “familiar Americana tunes” at the Pryor Creek fest.
Also on the Friday bill are well-known bluegrass acts the Rick Faris Band and the Cox Family.
“The Cox Family is a pretty renowned bluegrass band. Among many other things, they were involved in the [2000 film] O Brother, Where Art Thou? And Rick Faris was the 2022 International Bluegrass Music Association’s New Artist of the Year. He’s got [the Oklahoma-based mandolinist and guitarist] Henry Byron Burgess as part of his band.”
Saturday, the festival is set to kick off at noon with SpringStreet, touted on YouTube and elsewhere as “Oklahoma’s longest-running bluegrass band.” Then, the aforementioned Emily Rhyne, followed by Chuck Mead and the Stalwarts.
“This is where we highlight a group that isn’t necessarily bluegrass but, as Zac said, is family-friendly,” explains Bingham. “Chuck clearly isn’t bluegrass; he was with BR5-49, and he and his band will add a little hillbilly edge to the shenanigans.
“Then we’ll bring on One-Eyed Jack, which was [Guthrie-based fiddle virtuoso] Byron Berline’s band. When Byron passed [in 2021], they continued on as One-Eyed Jack. They’ve got the family’s blessing, and they have all of Byron’s arrangements. So in a sense, it’ll be a tribute to Byron. They’re keeping his legacy alive. And, of course, Byron was such a big bluegrass name.”
The next act, Bingham notes, may not be as recognizable as some of the others. Listeners to SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country channel, however, will likely know Jim Lauderdale from The Buddy and Jim Show, which Lauderdale does with fellow performer and songwriter Buddy Miller. A longtime recording artist and producer as well as a songwriter, he wrote and produced, among many other discs, two with bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley. George Strait has recorded 14 of his compositions, and the likes of Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, the Chicks, and Elvis Costello have also cut his songs.
“He’s one of those artists whose music people have heard,” Bingham says, “whether they know it or not. He’ll have his whole band, the Game Changers, with him.”
The Pryor Creek Bluegrass and Barbecue Festival is scheduled to end with Ralph Stanley II, Stanley’s son, and his Clinch Mountain Boys, followed by the Malpass Brothers.
“We’ll be occasionally straying a little bit from the traditional during the day, but we come right back to it with Ralph Stanley II,” Bingham says. “And then, the Malpass Brothers are coming in all the way from North Carolina, where they’ll be playing a bluegrass festival two days before. They toured with Merle Haggard in the later years of Merle’s life, they’ve got a show on RFD-TV, and they’re pretty traditional. They wear suits and tell jokes and do harmonies in the style of the Louvin Brothers; they’re one of the most traditional roots acts out there.
“We’re kind of touching a lot of different bases,” he concludes. “We’ll see what works, and how it’s perceived. I’d love to see it turn into a little more of an Americana event, and spotlight some of those types of artists. So we’ll see what happens. I thought Zac said it well: keep it family-friendly, and free.”
