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Tulsa W O R L D
Tulsa WOR
Tulsans of the Year
L D MA GA ZINE
2019
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE: CLOTHES, TOYS, BOOKS, ELECTRONICS AND MORE ISSUE 26 | December 2019-JANUARY 2020
The Pioneer Woman’s holiday traditions
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M a g a z i n e
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TULSA W O R L D
M A G A Z I N E
December 2019-January 2020
FROM THE COVER
Tulsans of the Year
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Making an impact: From tackling historic flooding to winning Tony Awards to conquering the NFL and more, it was another big year for Tulsa, and Karen Keith was front and center.
2019 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
Whether you’re looking for toys, gadgets or clothes and accessories, we’ve got suggestions to hopefully put you on the right path. 50: Clothing and accessories 58: Give an experience they’ll remember 61: Health and wellness 62: Toys 64: Home, garden and food 68: Gadgets and more 72: Books for young and old TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
Above photo and cover photo by JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World Magazine
ALSO INSIDE
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Pioneer Woman Christmas: Ree Drummond shares a recipe perfect for Christmas morning.
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Frugal food finds: How many meals can you get for $20? You’ll be surprised.
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Ginnie Graham: Unexpected lessons from a gratitude journal
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Christmas cooking with kids: Try these familyfriendly holiday recipes.
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The End: Did Sam Walton’s prediction about Tulsa come true? Tulsa World Magazine 3
Tulsa
W O R L D
FROMTHE
EDITOR.
M a g a z i n e
Tulsa World Magazine is a specialty publication of the Tulsa World, 315 S. Boulder Ave., Tulsa, OK 74103. This magazine is published with the December 7, 2019, edition of the World. All content copyright Tulsa World 2019. The contents may not be reproduced without permission.
Thankful for the Tulsans of the Year and appreciating their efforts
NICOLE MARSHALL MIDDLETON Editor nicole.marshall@tulsaworld.com SARA STEPHENSON Assistant Editor sara.stephenson@tulsaworld.com James Royal Lead Designer JOHN CLANTON Photo Editor John Walblay Page Editor Stacey Dickens Copy Editor Steve Reckinger Designer Additional copies of Tulsa World Magazine can be found at the Tulsa World or at local retailers. Annual magazine subscriptions are $29.70 for six issues. To subscribe or have single issues mailed for $4.95, go to tulsaworldmagazine.com or call 918-581-0921.
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Nicole Marshall Middleton Tulsa World Magazine Editor
T
he rainfall just wouldn’t stop. And don’t forget about the tornadoes, the seemingly relentless warnings and sirens and sleepless nights and stress. We all endured the historic May storms together, as we do. The Ice Storm. The Blizzard. The Floods. But some of our neighbors suffered more than others as a result of these historic spring storms and flooding. They needed help, and they needed answers. They needed an advocate like Karen Keith. We chose Keith for the cover of our Tulsans of the Year edition of the Tulsa World Magazine because she stood up. She stood up for the families whose homes were damaged and destroyed. She continues to stand for improvements to the Arkansas River levees so that the next time the rain refuses to stop there are better protections in place against flooding. “At no time has her work in public office been more instrumental — and noteworthy...” reporter Kevin Canfield wrote in his story about Keith for this edition. For that, we thank her. We are thankful, too, looking at our full list of 13 Tulsans of the Year, at the wide variety of ways they each bring pride to our city. They are representing Tulsa on a national scale. They are investing in Tulsa, making it a better place. They are summoning the courage to make life-changing decisions on behalf of their communities. These are the positive stories our readers so often tell us they want to read. At the holidays, it’s rewarding to reflect on the efforts of people like this and show our appreciation in this annual edition. Also in this edition, we went in search of some great gifts to give friends and family. From toys to gadgets, books, clothing and home accessories, there are really some great things to buy at a variety of price points. We hope you have as much fun as we did shopping at local stores and seeing what they have to offer. And it’s the holidays, of course, so there’s plenty of food. We’ve got a recipe from the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, for Christmas morning and the cutest treats to make with your little helpers. So enjoy reading about our favorite Tulsans, and enjoy the holidays! TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
SPRING CATALOG OUT SOON! Be on the lookout for our 2020 Spring & Summer Adult Career Development catalog featuring upcoming part-time, evening certification and enrichment classes that work around your schedule. For more information, visit enroll.tulsatech.edu or call (918) 828-5000.
» Full-time Careers Broken Arrow Campus 4000 W. Florence St.
» Part-time Classes
(918) 828-5000 INFO@TULSATECH.EDU
» Corporate Training
Lemley Memorial Campus 3420 S. Memorial Dr. » Health Sciences Center » Industry Training Center
Owasso Campus 10800 N. 137th E. Ave.
Peoria Campus 3850 N. Peoria Ave.
Riverside Campus 801 E. 91st St.
Sand Springs Campus 924 E. Charles Page Blvd.
YULETIDE EATINGS
Pioneer Woman shares holiday traditions, Christmas breakfast recipe By James D. Watts Jr. Tulsa World Magazine
Ree Drummond, better known to millions as “The Pioneer Woman,” knows that one of the secrets to good cooking is preparation — making sure all the ingredients for a dish are close at hand before one turns on the stove or preheats the oven. Christmas shopping, however, is another matter altogether. “Oh, I’m the worst,” Drummond said, laughing. “I don’t even begin thinking about shopping for Christmas until the second week in December.” Drummond, who grew up in Bartlesville, remembers holiday shopping expeditions to Tulsa’s Utica Square. “I still like to shop there,” she said. As for holiday traditions in the Drummond family, one of the longestlasting has been fried quail and cream gravy. “There used to be a big quail hunt on the Drummond ranch around Thanksgiving, and the birds would become the main dish for Christmas day brunch,” Drummond said. “My father-in-law would usually be doing the cooking. These days, we don’t have a lot quail — there are a lot of coyotes running around here — so we have to get quail from other sources. “Or we’ll just have fried chicken,” she said, laughing. “It’s a lot more userfriendly.” Drummond’s latest cookbook, “The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The New Frontier,” includes a recipe that should help feed a gathering on Christmas morning — especially if they like their holiday fare spicy. 6 Tulsa World Magazine
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TEX-MEX SHEET PAN BREAKFAST One 28-ounce bag frozen diced hash browns 1 small red onion, cut into ½-inch dice ½ jalapeño, sliced into rounds 3 tablespoons salted butter, melted 3 tablespoons olive oil ½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling ½ teaspoon black pepper, plus more for sprinkling 4 corn tortillas 4 ounces Mexican chorizo 8 large eggs ½ cup grated pepper jack cheese 2 avocados, cut into ½-inch dice ⅓ cup pico de gallo Hot sauce Sour cream, for serving Cilantro leaves, for serving
Courtesy/Ree Drummond TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 2. Combine the hash browns, onion, and jalapeño on a sheet pan. Drizzle the melted butter and olive oil on top, then season with the salt and pepper and toss to coat. 3. Bake for 25 minutes, tossing halfway through. Remove the pan from the oven and reduce the temperature to 375 degrees. 4. Stack the tortillas and cut into 6 wedges. Tuck the tortilla wedges into the potatoes, then open the package of chorizo and use a fork to drop bite-size pieces onto the pan. Keep them small, as they need to fully cook in the oven by the time the rest of the ingredients are cooked. Space the chorizo evenly over the pan. Crack the eggs over the top (don’t worry if you break a yolk or two!), then sprinkle with salt and pepper. 5. Return the sheet pan to the oven and bake until the eggs are cooked to your liking and the chorizo is cooked, 12 to 15 minutes. The chorizo should be hot and sizzling. 6. Sprinkle on the jack, the avocados, the pico de gallo, and the hot sauce to taste. 7. Use a spatula to cut large squares of the breakfast and serve with sour cream, cilantro leaves, and more hot sauce! — From “The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The New Frontier” by Ree Drummond. Copyright © 2019 by Ree Drummond. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Tulsa World Magazine 7
A Chili Cheese Coney and American Dog from Sonic are two great options for a cheap meal, and the restaurant chain regularly offers specials such as $1 Hot Dog Night.  MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World Magazine
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Penny pinching challenge
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he mission is one that any tightwad would be hungry to embrace: Here’s $20. Go out to eat as many times as you can. And see how far you can stretch that $20. Challenge accepted, but there needed to be some ground rules: 1. Meals must be purchased at restaurants or fast food outlets. Going to supermarkets and stocking up on groceries is forbidden. Otherwise, someone who accepted the mission could eat $20 worth of peanut butter sandwiches to infinity and beyond. 2. No meal can cost more than $3. Sure, there are great $5 burger specials around town, but a $5 burger also would chew up 25 percent of the budget. We’ll “splurge” another day. 3. Taxes and tips don’t count against the $20 limit. Some people tip at Sonic (even at the drivethrough window) and some don’t. Rather than get caught up in some sort of debate about that, let’s stick to the mission and menu prices only. How many meals can a person get for $20? With resourcefulness and coupon/email/app deals, you might be surprised.
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How many dine-out meals can you get for $20? You might be surprised
By Jimmie Tramel • Tulsa World Magazine
SECOND STOP: MCALISTER’S DELI KIDS MEAL
FIRST STOP: QT GRILLED CHEESE
You’re missing out if you haven’t downloaded the QuikTrip app to your mobile phone. App users are offered QT Kitchens deals that are often too tempting to refuse. For instance, a recent offer was $1 off a grilled cheese. The “normal” price for a grilled cheese is $1.99. If you’ve never had a QT grilled cheese, be aware that they are big-boy sandwiches that can be very filling if you tackle them all at once. For this project, we had half for breakfast and half for lunch, and it was still plenty. (If not for this mission, I would have added pepperoni for a nominal cost. The pepperoni makes the grilled cheese sort of a cousin of a calzone.) Cost: 99 cents Meals so far: 2
The bargain of all everyday bargains is kids meals are only 99 cents at McAlister’s Deli. Is it cheating to eat a kids meal if you are an adult? One of my kids ordered from the regular menu and I ordered from the kids menu, so it all balanced out. (Don’t ban me, McAlister’s. I’m addicted to your tea and spend half my salary on it.) Kids meals come with a side. My son usually orders mac and cheese and, to heck with variety, a side of mac and cheese. I ordered a kids’ baked potato and a side and got full. Cost of this meal: 99 cents Cost so far: $1.98 Meals so far: 3
THIRD STOP: BRAUM’S HOTCAKES AND SAUSAGE
Many fast food chains offer breakfast platters with standard fare, but I dare you to find a fast food breakfast item that gives you more bang (and batter) for your buck than hotcakes and sausage at Braum’s. You get three pancakes, and they’re not the silver dollar type. They’re thick and sizable and, sure, you could eat the whole thing (syrup and butter on top), but you might need a nap afterward. I ate half, pouring syrup only on the half I was going to eat right away, and saved half for later. Bonus hotcakes and sausage observation: On the greatness scale, sausage dipped in syrup is rivaled only by sausage dipped in gravy. Cost of this meal: $2.89
Cost so far: $4.87
Meals so far: Let’s call it 4½. Tulsa World Magazine 9
FOURTH STOP: PANERA BREAD SALAD
FIFTH STOP: SONIC CORN DOGS
During the course of tackling this project, I got a message that I had earned a Panera reward for a free salad. I’m not sure what I did to earn that free reward, but, because it happened during the course of the mission, I’m counting it. You were advised earlier to sign up for emails and apps, etc. It pays. And Panera makes a good salad. Cost of this meal: Zero Cost so far: $4.87 Meals so far: 5½
SIXTH STOP: PIG N OUT KIDS BURGER
Pig N Out is an old-school burger joint in Salina with no inside seating. You order food and eat inside your car or at a picnic table. On Mondays, kids burgers are $1. The everyday burger-and-fries special is cheap, but it’s over this mission’s price limit. I’ll have it next time, but it’s all about the bargain this time. I added a bag of fries (plenty of them) for $1.25. Cost of this meal: $2.25 Cost so far: $9.12 Meals so far: 8½
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Pay attention and you can hit Sonic on a 50-cent corn dog night. I could have spent all of my $20 on 40 corn dogs, but that would have made for a short story and, as good as a mustard-laced corn dog is, I don’t want to eat all of my meals on a stick. Let’s try four — two for lunch, two for dinner. Cost of this meal: $2 Cost so far: $6.87 Meals so far: 7½
SEVENTH STOP: QT PERSONAL PIZZA
Who’s counting, but this is maybe the third reminder to download apps. QT’s app offered a coupon for $2 off a personal pizza. Usually, personal pizzas are $4.99 and you can top them with whatever you want. I got a chicken, sausage and pepperoni personal pizza for $2.99. I could have continued to be extra chintzy and split this into two meals, but this time I went whole hog and ate it all. QT makes a quality pizza. I like the personal pizzas and the full-size pizzas better than the ready-made slices. Cost of this meal: $2.99
Cost so far: $12.11
Meals so far: 9½
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EIGHTH STOP: EL MAGUEY’S ENCHILADAS
The Monday special at El Maguey’s in Claremore: $1 enchiladas. You have your choice of chicken, beef or cheese. I prefer the chicken and the cheese. I ordered one of each. For a small fee, you can smother your enchiladas in cheese sauce instead of red sauce. Editor’s note: This was not a Monday special the last time I visited, so it may have been a temporary special. Timing is everything. Many restaurants have daily specials, so try to be aware. Cost of this meal: $2 Cost so far: $14.11 Meals so far: 10½
NINTH STOP: SONIC HOT DOGS
It’s back to Sonic on $1 hot dog night. I ordered a chili dog and an All-American dog — one for now and one for later. It’s best to eat chilitopped items right away, so the All-American dog got put in a holding pattern for the next meal. Cost of this meal: $2 Cost so far: $16.11 Meals so far: 12½
LAST STOP: KFC CHICKEN FRIED STEAK
The Monday special at KFC is a chicken fried steak meal for $2.99. You get a chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, slaw and a biscuit. You can sub brown gravy for cream gravy at an additional charge, according to the sign. Cost of this meal: $2.99 Cost so far: $19.10 Total meals: 13½
MONEY LEFT OVER: 90 CENTS
Dang. Who knew I would have this much change jangling around in my pocket? Can I go back in time and add pepperoni to my QT grilled cheese? Or maybe get one more 50-cent corn dog? I’ll be smarter next time, if someone wants to spot me another $20. TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
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Ginnie Ginnie
Graham Graham Editorial Writer
T ginnie.graham @tulsaworld.com
Unexpected lessons from a gratitude journal he empty journal prompted a year-long gratitude diary that would make Oprah proud. It started on a lark on New Year’s Day. Before having kids, I routinely wrote in a journal about daily activities and thoughts. I would spend sometimes an hour expounding upon life’s mysteries.
That came to a complete stop upon motherhood. Priorities became sleep, meals, laundry, school and bedtime rituals, wedged between a full-time job. Journaling wasn’t part of that schedule anymore. While taking down Christmas decorations, seeing that ordinary notebook inspired me to start again by taking a baby step. I could write three things I was thankful for and maybe an explanatory sentence or two. It would be a minimum of a couple of minutes. That seemed reasonable; it was not a huge time commitment and might even help end a day on a high note. The first entry was simple: “Thankful for my health, family and job. I have a 20-year marriage, two smart and fun kids and the physical ability to enjoy them and keep a job I love.” The following day celebrated my son’s 15th birthday, grateful for modern medicine that brought both of us through a difficult pregnancy and birth. January was a good month. It documented a concert my son attended, a lunch date with my daughter and generosity shown by my husband through meals prepared and errands run. Sprinkled throughout that initial month were the many small things making life easier: thick socks, a good book, chocolate, Trader Joe’s cookie butter, GPS, wine and a funny “Saturday Night Live.” Reading through the writings, all the months were pretty good. My family plays prominently on many days, with my husband and kids getting a lot of ink. On Feb. 9, Mom took us to dinner where my 5-yearold nephew entertained us with bravado about his basketball skills. She also on different occasions took us shopping, got pedicures and attended the kids’ games and performances. My sister and I took a girls’ trip in September, and on other days she was my sounding board and confidante. I mentioned hanging out with my nephews, having breakfast with an uncle, sharing dinner with a different uncle and laughing with a cousin over coffee. I was appreciative of “Game of Thrones,” pumpkin
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spice, leftovers, a happy boss, proofreaders, Hallmark movies, air conditioning, fireplaces, second-hand stores, fall weather, summers at Blue Hole, hugs and a goodnight kiss. Once, my eternal thanks went to a roadside service that kept me from being stranded. I have been grateful for finding my keys, meeting deadlines, discovering a good binge-worthy show and having fantastic neighbors who have taken my kids to school. Random acts of kindness made the journal, including a stranger holding a door open and giving me a compliment, a person buying everyone’s meals at a Touchdown Club meeting and a friend giving us theater tickets. I have met new friends and rekindled old friendships. Two days weren’t so good. June 28: “Thankful for a partner and tomorrow. Even on challenging days, at least I’m doing it with a partner. And at least there’s a tomorrow.” Oct. 10: “Thankful to get this day over. And free pizza.” I can’t remember what made those days bad, but whatever it was passed. That’s a lesson worth remembering. Some nights, I was tired and thought about skipping the daily writing, but I didn’t. The exercise forced me to stop and think about my day, focusing only on those things that I appreciated. No whining, complaining or sadness will be found among those pages. When times seemed rotten, and everyone has bad days, at least I could lay my head down at night after having thought of something nice. It made the anxiety melt away and create a better perspective. I can see in small snippets how there are many more ups than downs to my life. Those were the unexpected benefits of this unplanned project. Going into 2020, that gratitude journal will continue because there is much for which I am thankful. Sometimes, it just helps to write it down.
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2019 Tulsans of the Year
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he stories these Tulsans have to tell are varied and diverse. Their backgrounds, unique. Each person, in their own way, has brought pride to Tulsa. And this year, in particular, their contributions have been significant. They deserve recognition and thanks. We present our 2019 Tulsans of the Year.
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2019 Tulsans of the Year
Karen Keith County commissioner’s efforts instrumental during flooding crisis
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By Kevin Canfield / Tulsa World Magazine
ulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith is more personality than politician. This is a good thing — as politicians go, she’s easy to like. Maybe it’s her unwillingness to take herself too seriously. She was a news anchor once, you know. And a “weather girl” — her words. And a sports anchor. All on the same night. It was many years ago, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, when the Muskogee native was just starting out in the TV business. “No one showed up,” she says. “It was pitiful. It was pitiful.” Meaning she was pitiful. She laughs. There’s a lot of that when Keith talks to you. A lot of laughter and genuine goodwill. Don’t be fooled: She plans to run for a fourth term next year, and though she says one of the great joys of the job is the people she meets, that’s not what’s kept her in the game all these years. She likes to get things done. “It is very rewarding,” she says. “It is impossible to be bored, absolutely impossible.”
Underwater Since taking office in 2008, Keith has played a critical role in advancing multiple projects. She was the driving force behind the construction of the county’s Family Center for
Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith stands on top of the levee system in west Tulsa. Just a few feet below her is where the water crested during floods earlier this year. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World Magazine
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Juvenile Justice. She helped Iron Gate find a new home, and she represented the county in the city-led effort to build low-water dams in the Arkansas River. The Family Center will open in December. Iron Gate’s new home is up and running, and the long-awaited overhaul of Zink Dam begins next year. The timing hasn’t been quite so good for the project that has consumed more of Keith’s time and energy than any other: fixing the approximately 20mile levee system that runs from Sand Springs to west Tulsa. “When I got here, there was this controversy that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was having the levees decertified,” Keith says. “Once you started digging you realized how compromised they truly were, and to get them fixed was going to be a long process.” A process, it turned out, that was nowhere near complete when the rain started falling, and falling, in May, leaving Keith to face her worst nightmare: the levees failing. “It was just that the rainfall wouldn’t stop,” says Keith, 66. “I became an addict: There is a little app on the phone, so I was pulling it up every day and checking, where was the water at Keystone (Lake) in the flood pool.” The levees held, but not without a few hair-raising moments. Keith credits the coordinated efforts of multiple local, state and federal agencies with helping Tulsa County avert a potential catastrophe. “We had an issue with those levees,” Keith says, noting the hundreds of boils — or mini water volcanoes — that popped up on the land side of the levees as the water in the Arkansas River rose. “Fortunately, the governor called out the National Guard immediately, so we had a huge contingent from the Corps, and then we had the National Guard, walking those levees back and forth,” she says. Keith’s correct: The catastrophe never happened, but plenty of people lost their homes, their lives as they knew them gone forever. Nearly 300 properties in Tulsa County took on 18 inches or more of water, according to Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency, with another 200 taking on less than 18 inches. The flooding is estimated to have caused more than $86 million in damages countywide. Karen Keith is one of the Tulsa 16 Tulsa World Magazine
World’s 2019 Tulsans of the Year for her efforts to mitigate that suffering. At no time has her work in public office been more instrumental — and noteworthy — than the days she spent helping the flood-ravaged residents of the Town and Country addition west of Sand Springs. “Some of my neighbors (just) now are getting back in,” she says. “But it really concerns me.” Yes, Keith, a Tulsa resident, calls the Town and Country residents whose lives she helped rebuild her “neighbors.” And to think when she first showed
up in their neighborhood, residents like Jeremy Herrington wanted nothing to do with her. “I was ready to give her a piece of my mind,” he says.
Zigzagging around When Keith showed up at Town and Country in late May for an informal neighborhood meeting, most of the community was underwater. Many of the residents, including Herrington, had no flood insurance. TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith walks off the levee system in west Tulsa. Todd Kilpatrick, commissioner for Levee District 12, says Keith’s service was crucial during the May flooding. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World Magazine
says. Joe Kralicek, executive director of TAEMA, says Keith’s years of experience in local government were invaluable during the crisis. “Certainly, reaching out to people, if there was somebody I needed to get hold of, she probably knew them,” Kralicek says. Todd Kilpatrick, commissioner for Levee District 12, says when he needed something during the flooding, Keith made sure he got it. “Anything that we needed she would get,” Kilpatrick says. “Whether it was sandbags, sandbag machines. … She is great, she really is. “She is like cotton candy, what’s not to like.”
Not just any ‘weather girl’
So he wasn’t the only person ready to give her hell. An entire front yard full of people were there to hear what she and 1st District Congressman Kevin Hern had to say. Instead, she let them do the talking. All of a sudden, someone was listening to them. All of a sudden, she’d established a bond with the people she was there to help. “She said we didn’t give you appropriate warning,” Herrington says. “I respect that. … I respect integrity, and she TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
showed me both her heart and integrity.” Keith still feels that way. “I think we absolutely needed to give better notice to the residents at Town and Country,” she says. “I’ve talked to the Corps about that. But long-term, nobody should probably be living there.” She recalls those weeks of turmoil as a whirlwind of activity that had her zigzagging from Town and Country to the levees to news conferences at the Emergency Operations Center. “Every day there would be several things that needed to be done,” Keith
Keith rebounded from her pitiful days as a ‘weather girl’ and sports anchor in Colorado Springs to become one of the best-known television personalities in Tulsa. She anchored the news on KJRH Channel 2 and was the longtime host of “Oklahoma Living.” But it was later, during her years in former Mayor Bill LaFortune’s administration and at the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, that she caught the public service bug. “I started thinking, after we passed Vision 2025, how much fun it would be to implement Vision 2025 instead of being on the outside,” she says. People advised against running for county commissioner, and that was all she needed to hear. “I was like, OK, I’m still going to do it.” All these years later, she’s so glad she did. “I have loved this job, warts and all,” she says. What Keith would love more than anything, though, would be to stick around one more term. She wants to be there to dig a ceremonial shovel into the ground when work begins on the new levees. That could happen within two years — or about 14 years after she first started fighting for them. “It just takes a long time to get the attention of the Corps, but we did that.” Tulsa World Magazine 17
2019 Tulsans of the Year
Joy Harjo J
First Native American U.S. Poet Laureate wants to place native poets on the map
Photo by JOHN CLANTON/ Tulsa World Magazine
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By James D. Watts Jr. / Tulsa World Magazine
oy Harjo knew her life was going to change when she answered a telephone call from the Librarian of Congress. Carla Hayden called Harjo earlier this year to tell the Tulsa native and member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation she had been selected to be the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States. “I knew that everything was going to change the moment I said yes,” Harjo said. “I just had no idea exactly how it was going to change, though. There is nothing that can really prepare you for something like this.” On June 19, Harjo became the first Native American and the first Oklahoman to hold the position of U.S. Poet Laureate, joining a list of distinguished poets that includes W.S. Merwin, Billy Collins, Rita Dove, Donald Hall and Tracy K. Smith. According to the Library of Congress, the U.S. Poet Laureate is “the nation’s official poet,” whose work is “to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.” Harjo officially began her tenure as Poet Laureate on Sept. 19, with a public reading as part of the annual literary series at the Library of Congress. Interest in her presentation was such that the crowd filled the library’s Coolidge Auditorium and two overflow rooms. It was also distinctive for being perhaps the first time such a presentation featured the U.S. Poet Laureate performing with her band (Harjo is also an award-winning musician). Since then, she has been on the move almost continuously, traveling around the country to give readings of her work, often featuring poems from her most recent collection, “An American Sunrise,” to taking part in the special Academy Awards Governors’ Award ceremony to present fellow Oklahoman Wes Studi with his honorary Oscar, from giving lectures about the place of poetry in people’s lives to championing other native poets. “I’m probably the first native poet that most people have ever heard of, because of this position,” Harjo said. “But there are many great native poets working today. So whatever I do as Poet Laureate will really be about placing native poets on the literary map, so to speak — to make sure people know that we are still here, and that our voices are heard.”
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Sharing poetry and giving back One of the ways Harjo plans to accomplish this goal is through a project that began before she was named Poet Laureate. Harjo is the lead editor for the forthcoming “When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry,” set to be published in the fall of 2020. “I really see this as a service position, not a ceremonial one,” she said. “It’s about honoring poetry, and sharing poetry, even with audiences who think they don’t like poetry. So it’s important for me to be out there, even though I’m really a very private person who would love to be able to be at home in Oklahoma, with my family, with my tribe. “I’m going to be doing what I’ve been doing for the past 50 years — it’s just that the intensity has changed,” she said. “And I know whatever has been given to me does not belong to me. It’s part of Tulsa, of Oklahoma, of the Muscogee Creek people, of the country.” Harjo’s own poetic voice first began to be heard when she was in her 20s. “It kind of surprised me,” she said. “I grew up in a house just off of Admiral Boulevard, and there were no poets anywhere around there. Of course, I read poetry, but in no way did I have any idea that I would become a poet. I mean, it’s not something that comes up on career day at school.” Harjo’s first artistic interest was in painting, which led to the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “That was where I first started meeting people who actually were writing poetry,” she said. “But it wasn’t until I attended the University of New Mexico, where I heard a lot of contemporary native poets and got involved in the KIVA Club (a student organization that, at the time, was involved in the efforts to fight for civil rights for native peoples), that something really galvanized me. I just started writing and it took over. I certainly didn’t plan it.”
A distinguished career Planned or not, Harjo’s career as a writer has resulted in eight books of poetry, an award-winning memoir, “Crazy Brave,” and honors that include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas, the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets, the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, the American Indian Distinguished Achievement in the Arts Award, and the Ruth Lilly Prize in Poetry. Harjo said she also really had not planned on her latest collection, “An American Sunrise,” which grew out of her recent tenure teaching in Tennessee, and revisiting historic Muscogee Creek lands and hearing family and tribal stories. “Usually I sort of accumulate a bunch of poems and then start searching through them to find themes might run through them,” Harjo said. “But this book TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
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surprised me by its appearance. It kind of came out all together.” It includes a poem Harjo said was one of the most difficult she’s ever written, “Washing My Mother’s Body,” a loving description of her memories of her mother, as she imagines the gentle ministrations Harjo was not able to show her mother after death. “I didn’t expect to write that poem,” she said. “It was just one of those things that asserted itself and just came out of me. And I realized later that I really needed to write that poem. I was not in control of what happened with my mother when she died, and poetry gave me the ability to go back in time and take care of what I needed to do. And it was very helpful for me. “And I think, for people who may be afraid of poetry, or haven’t much experience with it, this is a way to explain the power of poetry,” Harjo said. “Poetry is what we turn to in times of transformation — births, deaths, marriage, falling in love, falling out of love, death. We always turn to poetry at these times, whether it’s a Psalm from the Bible, a classic poem or something newly written. Poetry speaks to our history, and holds our spirit — it tells us who we are as a culture, as a people.”
Joy Harjo, Tulsa native and U.S. Poet Laureate, poses in her space at the Tulsa Artist Fellows Studios. The dress Harjo is wearing was designed by Leslie A. Deer of LA Deer Apparel. Her earrings were made by her daughter Rainy Dawn Ortiz. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World Magazine
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2019 Tulsans of the Year
Kristin Dotson Taking the lead in bringing the best of Broadway to Tulsa By James D. Watts Jr. / Tulsa World Magazine
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ulsa audiences weren’t going to be able to “Let It Go” until 2021, but then something funky happened when the stage version of “Frozen” made plans to hit the road. “I don’t know exactly what happened,” said Kristin Dotson, CEO of Celebrity Attractions. “I just know that, when the show’s producers were planning out the tour dates, something funky happened between Minneapolis and Dallas. And we got the first call about it, if we could move things around to bring ‘Frozen’ to Tulsa a year or so early.” “Frozen” will be in Tulsa for a two-week engagement, June 3-14, 2020, one of the main productions that make up Celebrity Attractions’ 2019-20 Tulsa season, along with “Come From Away,” “Anastasia” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Bringing the best of Broadway to Tulsa has been the mission of Celebrity Attractions since Larry Payton founded the company in 1983. Over the years, Payton grew the company from a parttime enterprise into one of the country’s preeminent presenters of Broadway musicals. That is a legacy Dotson has endeavored to continue, most notably by bringing to Tulsa the biggest show to hit Broadway in decades: “Hamilton.” Dotson has been with the company since 1994, when she answered a want ad in the Tulsa World from a “local entertainment company.” Since then, she has held just about every possible position within the organization, from pasting together advertisements for print to serving as the company’s marketing and public relations director. Two years after Payton’s death in 2013, Dotson
Kristin Dotson of Celebrity Attractions has helped bring Broadway hits to Tulsa. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World Magazine
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became the company’s vice president and was put in charge of booking shows for the various series Celebrity Attractions presents (in addition to Tulsa, Celebrity Attractions also presents shows in Little Rock, Arkansas; Springfield, Missouri.; Abilene, Texas; and Amarillo, Texas). “I remember at the time talking with a friend of mine and saying, ‘What do I know about booking shows?’ ” Dotson said. It was a worry that proved unfounded, as Dotson helped bring to Tulsa such acclaimed shows as “Jersey Boys,” “Kinky Boots,” “Mamma Mia!,” “An American in Paris,” “Finding Neverland,” “The Play that Goes Wrong” and “Something Rotten!,” as well as “Hamilton,” which filled the Tulsa PAC for three weeks in the summer. “Hamilton” was one of the most eagerly anticipated shows ever to come to Tulsa, beginning when Celebrity Attractions announced the show would be part of its 2019-20 season two years in advance. “Working with the ‘Hamilton’ production was a whole different process than usual,” Dotson said. “When the tour started, the plan was for the production to sit for two weeks at each stop. But then everyone started wanting to book more dates, so we had to work with the Tulsa PAC staff to find a three-week span of time for the show.” The “Hamilton” producers also had very strict rules about other aspects of the production, from not allowing tickets for the show to be included when season tickets were mailed out, and requiring that season ticket sales be limited. The producers also wanted to control the marketing of the show. “When we bring in a show like ‘Wicked,’ we paint the town green to let people know it’s coming,” Dotson said. “The ‘Hamilton’ people had their own strategy about how to market a show, but we managed to make them realize that some of the things they wanted wouldn’t work in our market. For one thing, their strategy of limiting the marketing led to the assumption that our run of ‘Hamilton’ was sold out from the start, which wasn’t the case at all. “Our team here was able to convince the ‘Hamilton’ people to pivot a bit, and trust us to market the show the way we knew would work for Tulsa,” she said. “This team has never worked harder than they did for ‘Hamilton.’ ” 24 Tulsa World Magazine
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The hard work paid off for Celebrity Attractions; season ticket sales for the 2018-19 season featuring “Hamilton” topped out at more than 14,000, which was an increase of about 30% over the previous year. And while some markets in which “Hamilton” played would inflate ticket prices because of the demand for the show, Dotson said Celebrity Attractions was determined to keep the Tulsa performances of “Hamilton” as affordable as possible. “I know some markets in the Midwest were charging $600 to $700 for single ‘Hamilton’ tickets,” Dotson said. “But it was Larry’s business model from the beginning to keep the shows we present as affordable as possible, so that more
people would be able to see it.” But the biggest challenge having “Hamilton” in Tulsa has presented Dotson is figuring out how to keep people who may have come to a Broadway show for the first time coming back for more. “I know that a lot of people came through the Tulsa PAC doors for the first time in their lives because of ‘Hamilton,’ ” she said. “Some nights I would stand at the back of the hall, and you could just feel the energy from the audience as they watched this show. Our hope is that they were bitten by the Broadway bug, and that means that we need to program shows that appeal both to our long-term subscribers and people who are really discovering live theater for the first time.” TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
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2019 Tulsans of the Year
Heather Pingry “T
Finding a new home for Tulsa’s Mayfest By Tim Stanley Tulsa World Magazine
Heather Pingry is the executive director of Tulsa International Mayfest. In 2019, Mayfest was moved from its traditional home, the city’s Central Business District downtown, to the Tulsa Arts District in a move she says, looking back, was “the right thing to do.” MIKE SIMONS/ Tulsa World Magazine
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he person who ruined Mayfest.” Although she laughs at the thought now, 10 years ago Heather Pingry was briefly afraid it was how Tulsa was going to remember her. “I remember I was like, if we don’t make any money, I won’t get to do this anymore,” she said, recalling her first Mayfest as executive director in 2009, when rain threatened to wash the festival away. It ended up raining three of the four days, Pingry added. Thankfully, “we had a literal rainy day fund” that helped soften the financial hit, she said. A decade later and still at the helm, Pingry, far from ruining it, has Tulsa International Mayfest poised for what she hopes are its best years yet. And that future will hinge, no doubt, on some tough decisions she helped make this year. In 2019 for its 47th year, Mayfest was moved from its traditional home, the city’s Central Business District downtown, to the Tulsa Arts District, and changed from a four-day event to three days. Mayfest organizers, she said, had been mulling the move for a couple of years, but decided to go ahead in January. Upon learning the annual Blue Dome Arts Festival was ending, Mayfest wanted to help fill the gap, Pingry said, and the move would allow it to double its visual arts booths. Also a factor, she said, were the changes happening in and around its former home, including ongoing construction along Mayfest’s primary venue streets. After the Mayfest board unanimously approved the proposed move, the plan had to come together quickly. “Normally for a move like this,” Pingry said, “we’d want to plan it two, three years ahead. But the way it worked out, we had just a few months.” Looking back now at how everything came together, she said, it’s even easier to see it was “the right thing to do.”
Crowd response was especially affirming. “We lost Saturday to rain, but on Friday and Sunday it was great,” Pingry said. She said at the former location, she knew it was going well when she couldn’t maneuver her golf cart down Main Street because the crowds were too heavy. “This year it was like that in every direction on MLK (in the Arts District), which is two and a half times the width of Main,” Pingry said. Although clearly for the best, uprooting Mayfest was not an easy decision, she said. Pingry, a Broken Arrow native, recalls coming to her first Mayfests as a teenager, and how the atmosphere downtown, especially at the old Bartlett Square, entranced her. “You were in the middle of this beautiful place with great architecture and friendly people and great music,” Pingry said. But if she feels some nostalgic regret, Pingry has found comfort in the arrival of the new Chapman Green Arts series. Introduced this year and managed by Mayfest, it continues to bring crowds into one of the areas formerly home to the festival. “It’s been a really fun experience,” she said, “and knowing that we still have some kind of program in this area made the festival transition easier.” One of two full-time staff members backed by a core group of volunteers, Pingry said she still loves the year-round work it takes to make Mayfest happen. When she used to come as a teen, “I had no idea this was somebody’s job,” she said. Pingry’s hope, she added, is to reach even more Tulsans, inviting them to “come out, buy your art from an actual artist, eat food made by local people, enjoy the music. Because that’s what keeps it going.” “There are not a whole lot of big arts festivals our size in communities our size around anymore,” she said. “We are so lucky to have an arts festival like this.” Tulsa World Magazine 27
2019 Tulsans of the Year
Rev. Robert Turner
Pastor embraces his role in Tulsa’s healing By Kendrick Marshall / Tulsa World Magazine
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he Rev. Robert Turner wasn’t supposed to be here. Here means any number of circumstances for Turner. Turner admits he never envisioned himself living in Tulsa. He had lived all of his life — until 2017— in Alabama with his wife and two sons. He also couldn’t fathom leading historic Vernon AME Church in the Greenwood District, either. Moreover, Turner didn’t see himself even being a clergyman to begin with. Nope. None of that was the plan. But there he was, standing just outside the steps of City Hall with a bullhorn to his mouth on an early October afternoon imploring in the distance “The Greenwood that you shop in, the Greenwood you go to baseball games to watch, it is a crime scene.” Turner wanted to remind the public of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. He also requested the city and its leaders make amends for the generational damage done nearly a century ago as a result of the event. “It was really a continuation of something God kind of put on my heart to do as far as calling the city for repentance and recognize what happened in 1921 as the massacre that it was,” Turner explained of the demonstration that day. The awareness of the massacre’s impact, Turner said, was not where it is supposed be, in his estimation. “We do love this city,” he said. “We do love this state and we want her to fulfill her potential,” said Turner. “I really see a 28 Tulsa World Magazine
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city that has wonderful potential and be a model for the world. I think the massacre can be an example for how the world can handle trauma.” God, he said, led him to march — to put all those countless prayers into tangible action. And that’s what Turner has done since his arrival in Tulsa. He was baptized by the fire of everything that involved the fatal officer-involved shooting of Terence Crutcher that forced the city to confront race and policing. Since then, he’s called for police accountability and reparations for race massacre victims. Turner, in a sense, is an activist who just so happens to be a pastor. It is a role
that has garnered him respect among residents of Greenwood even though he’s not a native son. “I came to Tulsa not to do this,” said Turner of his current situation. “I wanted to just pastor. I thought I was going to do birthday parties, baby showers and communions.” These newfound unexpected responsibilities, he found, is something to embrace. “All of this kind of chose me,” he said. “I definitely didn’t choose to come to Tulsa. I definitely didn’t choose to come to Vernon. But the problems that we have now, I can’t live with. I have to do something about it.” TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
Matt Pinnell Lieutenant governor is a typical Tulsan — with a dream job By Randy Krehbiel / Tulsa World Magazine
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t. Gov. Matt Pinnell isn’t a native Tulsan, but he’s about as close to one as it gets. He was three months old when his parents moved to town for his father’s job as an assistant U.S. attorney. So Pinnell is about as Tulsa as it gets. He went to elementary (Council Oak), middle (Wilson) and high (Metro ChrisTULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
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2019 Tulsans of the Year
tian) schools and graduated from Oral Roberts University. He did the things kids do in Tulsa; found his wife, Lisa, in Tulsa; has a Tulsa-born and -bred family of his own now. If Pinnell is not the typical Tulsan — arguably there is no such thing — he is certainly a typical Tulsan. “I have been very blessed to be raised in Tulsa,” Pinnell said. “I had a lot of opportunities growing up. A city can make a difference.” Somewhere along the way he acquired the notion that one person can make a difference, too. Introduced to politics while in college at ORU, Pinnell became a key behind-the-scenes figure in the Republican Party, first at the local and state level and then with the Republican National Committee. Then, in 2018, Pinnell stepped onto the stage himself and ran for lieutenant governor. In Oklahoma, the lieutenant governor has few defined duties, but Pinnell is trying to give some weight to the office that wags sometimes call “lite gov.” With Gov. Kevin Stitt’s blessing, he has become more or less the state’s marketing director. As Stitt’s secretary of marketing and
branding, he is shaping the nation’s and the world’s image of a state that historically hasn’t had much of one. “I have told a lot of people that in a lot of ways lieutenant governor is my dream job,” Pinnell said. “These are passion projects of mine. Most people run for lieutenant governor to go do something else, but the position speaks to me. ... All of the things I said in my campaign that I wanted to do I’m in charge of.” Pinnell seems to think the job is as much about sales as it is politics. “I’ve always been a people person,” he said. “Being around people builds me up. I was a public relations-advertising major at ORU, so I have a sales and marketing background.” Some of Pinnell’s initiatives have been better received than others, but he said the effort is working — and not just in a few places. “We’re helping communities across the state,” he said. “Sales-tax revenue is so important to them, so tourism is vital to the survival of (many) small towns,” he said. “Success for me can be to turn an overnight trip into a weekend trip. That might not seem like a lot, but you do it enough and it makes a difference.” Tulsa World Magazine 29
2019 Tulsans of the Year
Jeff Martin J
Tulsans have Martin to thank for more than 1,000 author events
Jeff Martin, founder of Booksmart Tulsa and president of the board of the Tulsa Literary Coalition, poses at Magic City Books. JOHN CLANTON/ Tulsa World Magazine
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By Jimmie Tramel / Tulsa World Magazine
eff Martin was in the eighth grade when he read “Lord of the Flies” for the first time. “It was an assigned book in school, but it was the first book that I think captured my mind in a grown-up way, really,” he said, adding that it made him think about things he had never examined before. Martin said “Lord of the Flies” is very much still with him. He has thought about the story every year since he first read it 25 years ago. “I think that one remains kind of the gift that keeps on giving as far as making me kind of contemplate what it means and think about it,” he said. For book lovers, Martin is the gift that keeps on giving, which is why he is among the Tulsa World Magazine’s Tulsans of the Year. Martin is the president of the board of the Tulsa Literary Coalition and founder of Booksmart Tulsa, a project of the coalition. Because a little idea to start a book club evolved, more than 1,000 authors have made appearances in Tulsa in the past 10 years. Big moments during that span? It’s all a matter of taste, of course. Taste aside, Martin picked a half dozen: • A big name was sought after the opening of Magic City Books (proceeds from the downtown store benefit the Tulsa Literary Coalition). Stephen King is a big name. He agreed to be the author at the first Magic City Books-affiliated event in 2016. “That was at Cain’s Ballroom, and it was just one of those truly unforgettable things,” Martin said. “A thousand-plus tickets sold out in 30 seconds online. It was just crazy.” TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
• Chuck Palahniuk, whose works include “Fight Club,” was the author guest at a 2013 event held at the Central Library just before it closed for an extreme makeover. “We had this wild, raucous almost Flaming Lipsstyle crazy event there at the library that was an adult pajama party and we had beach balls and glow sticks,” Martin said. “It felt more like a rave than a book signing. It was a totally wild event.” How many book signings have live music and food trucks? This one did. “That (experience) really said if we can make these things an entertainment option the way anyone would think of going to a concert or a show or anything, that’s how I think we make this a 21st century thing,” Martin said. • Rachel Maddow promoted her new book in October at the Union Multipurpose Activity Center. Martin said it was amazing. “It was certainly the biggest event we have ever had,” he said. “I have never done anything with almost 4,000 people, so just the logistics of getting it all done and put together with no major problems, that was just a big success.” Martin said Maddow attracted visitors from towns other than Tulsa, so a point was made that book events can have an economic impact on the city by attracting visitors from other cities. “It’s a smaller scale,” Martin said. “But the same way the BOK Center can do what they do, we just put an extra ‘O’ in it, you know? It’s B-O-O-K Center.” • The first Booksmart Tulsa author event was in 2009. Martin wanted the first author guest to be someone from Oklahoma. Rivka Galchen, a Columbia University professor and New Yorker writer who grew up in Norman, agreed to be the series-starter even though Booksmart Tulsa had no track record at the time. • Booksmart Tulsa hosted Salman Rushdie for the first time during Banned Books Week in 2015. Martin put Rushdie in the category of being a game-changer because he altered “the perception of the kind of people we could get here.” Said Martin: “We have had a lot of popular authors, but I think in terms of prestige or kind of icons of the literary world, he was certainly one of those that really broke through. I remember George Kaiser, for example, was sitting in the audience. And he later sent me a photograph that he took … of Salman Rushdie and I talking. So it obviously made some impact that these people are ‘fan-ning out’ so much and even George Kaiser is taking pictures from the audience and sending them to me.” • David Sedaris (he’s on the coalition’s advisory board) has been to Tulsa many times, but one instance stands out from the others. Martin said Sedaris was talked into doing an outdoor event at Guthrie Green. “Guthrie Green is so used to having these big concerts and everything like that,” Martin said. “But I had never seen a book event out there that filled up the Green, and people were just having a blast hearing a guy read essays to them outside. It was just a really fun, unique thing. We ended up signing until past midnight.” Here’s the foreword to their appearances: Booksmart Tulsa was launched in the spring of 2009 TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
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Jeff Martin, founder of Booksmart Tulsa and president of the board of the Tulsa Literary Coalition, has helped bring more than 1,000 authors to Tulsa for events. JOHN CLANTON/ Tulsa World Magazine
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as a citywide book club. Martin said he started the initiative with friend Mary Beth Babcock. The idea was to break out of the mold of the conventional book club and engage younger crowds, so a plan was hatched to have the book club meet in “book pub” fashion at bars throughout the city. The first gathering was held on the top floor of McNellie’s. The turnout — between 300 and 400 people — was significantly larger than expected. “We did that for a few months, but the nature of any kind of club like that is entropy,” Mar-
tin said. “So what happened was we always had big crowds, but it started to fade. It was because we always had that same core group. We weren’t bringing in new people. And so in the summer of that year, we decided to throw out that model and start doing this thing where we bring in new authors every time with the hope that if a topic or subject is different, then we would bring in different people and start to build a larger core constituency.” More than 1,000 authors later, Martin is a Tulsan of the year. TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
Congratulations Jeff Martin
on becoming a Tulsan of the Year Thanks for bringing over 1000 authors to Tulsa, for deciding that a great community needs a great bookstore, for promoting inclusivity through literature and for insisting that Tulsa is and always will be a literary community. From the Board of Directors of the Tulsa Literary Coalition/ Magic City Books/ BookSmart Tulsa.
221 E ARCHER ST, TULSA • 918-602-4452 • MAGICCITYBOOKS.COM
Director John Swab prepares to film a scene of “Run With the Hunted” at the Federal Building in downtown Tulsa in 2018. JOSEPH RUSHMORE/for Tulsa World Magazine
2019 Tulsans of the Year
John Swab
Making bigger and better films in Tulsa By Michael Smith / Tulsa World Magazine
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hen considering just how much of a long shot John Swab was when it comes to becoming one of Tulsa’s favorite sons, well, allow him to sum it up bluntly. “Wow. Four years ago I was a crackhead, and now I’m a Tulsan of the Year,” Swab said in a recent phone call from his home in Woodstock, New York. “That’s really pretty cool.” A native Tulsan and a 2007 Edison High School graduate, Swab lives in New York, but his hometown has become essential to his continuing career as a writer, director and producer of movies. This young artist already has filmed three movies in Tulsa since 2015, and each time he returns, the story is better, the budget is bigger and the cast has more names you know.
It’s a remarkable story worthy of a film itself, and that’s exactly the way Swab has been creating his scripts, like any good writer: For his ultra-dark crime films, he’s been writing what he knows. That first film, “Let Me Make You a Martyr,” starring Marilyn Manson, featured characters who include a crime lord, a hired killer, drug dealers, addicts and victims of abuse — and it was unfortunately a very personal story for Swab. When he began filming it in the Tulsa area in 2015, he was just weeks into a sobriety that has reached four years. “That was my last stand, and I was in the throes of it all, and I’m blessed to have had people around me who cared,” he said of people like his family and his parents, Brett Swab and M.C. Swab, and friends who supported him through TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
that first film, which can be seen on several streaming services. That backing is a large part of why Swab keeps coming home to make movies: He’s found local investors who believe in his talent, and he has made connections that help him gain filming locations and facilitate his indie-film production needs on the fly. “No one is safe when I come to town, and I’m not afraid to ask uncles, cousins, friends, parents of friends, for help” from “getting cop cars to filming at the courthouse,” he said with a laugh. That’s vital when he’s turning downtown Tulsa into what will become a pickpocket scene montage, or perhaps when staging a shootout. When he returned in 2018 to film “Run With the Hunted” (a movie that has won awards on the film festival circuit, with a release date in 2020), he was joined in Tulsa by a cast including Ron Perlman (“Hellboy”), Mark Boone Junior (“Sons of TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
Anarchy”), Michael Pitt (“Hannibal”) and Isiah Whitlock Jr. (“The Wire”). Swab writes all of his original screenplays, and “Body Brokers” — a drama about drug addicts, treatment centers and get-rich schemes — attracted his most impressive cast yet to Tulsa this summer. It included Academy Award-winner Melissa Leo (“The Fighter”), who lives near Swab and has become “something of a mentor to me,” he said. Also starring: Michael Kenneth Williams (“The Wire”); Frank Grillo (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”); Jessica Rothe (star of the “Happy Death Day” movies); and Jack Kilmer (“Palo Alto”) and Alice Englert (“Beautiful Creatures”), who play a couple of young addicts who are the focus of the movie. He keeps bringing these people to Tulsa — as well as hiring local crew members when he arrives — because he keeps finding a collaborative spirit in the
city. “There’s a fascination with the creative process that people in Tulsa have that I’ve found is unique, with filmmaking in its infancy here,” he said. “I know, ‘The Outsiders’ and other movies, but with (productions) like ours, what’s really nice is how open people are, how helpful they are and how interested they are in what we’re doing. “It’s not that way in larger cities, but here it feels like filmmaking is having a local renaissance. There’s an openness to new things.” With each new film comes a fresh start, much like Swab’s life has become in recent years, and Tulsa remains a home base for it all. “I’ve got a movie in film festivals right now. I’ve got another that I’m editing at this time. And I’m already working on something new — something that will hopefully bring me back to Tulsa. That’s the goal.” Tulsa World Magazine 35
2019 Tulsans of the Year
Josh Jacobs Running back carries Tulsa on his path to NFL riches By Guerin Emig / Tulsa World Magazine
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osh Jacobs’ success story reflects well on Oakland, the city where Jacobs currently stars as a Raiders rookie running back. Make no mistake – Jacobs is a star. He rushed for 554 yards over the Raiders’ first six games of this season. Nobody in the history of that proud NFL franchise ever rushed for more yards that soon. The folks in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, should be proud as well. Jacobs went to college there. He won a national championship with the Crimson Tide. He beat Oklahoma in last year’s College Football Playoff, beat the flagship team from his home state. Jacobs grew up in Tulsa. His journey resonates most of all on our north side, where his father protected him, his teachers and coaches nurtured him and he developed his first inklings of identity as both a football player and a young man. The 2016 day Jacobs signed with Alabama, he was surrounded by McLain High School teammates, students and administrators, as well as friends and family members from north Tulsa. “That’s just the community I come from,” he told the Tulsa World at the ceremony. “Being a young black male in general, we have to strive for better. That alone pushes me. Getting a degree. Furthering my life for everybody. Actually being able to make money so I can come back and give to the community. That’s huge, too.” Jacobs returned home during the run-up to the NFL draft last April, right before the Raiders selected him in the first round and signed him to an $11.9 million contract. “Josh was up here and kids were running up to him. ‘Hey, Josh,’ this and that,” Marty Jacobs, Josh’s father, told the World at the time. “They were happy to see him. They looked up to him. He can be that example for them. ‘Hey, man, you can come out of here. You can be successful out of here.’ “It’s an incredible feeling to see kids 36 Tulsa World Magazine
Alabama running back and former McLain star Josh Jacobs poses with his new jersey after the Oakland Raiders selected him in the first round at the NFL draft on April 25 in Nashville, Tenn. Now an NFL star, Jacobs is eager to give back to his community. Mark Humphrey/Associated Press
start to look at him as their hero.” Jacobs’ story makes quite a model. Josh wrote it himself in The Players Tribune last April 25. He shared a first-person account of divorce dividing his family, of living motel room to motel room with Marty for a period growing up, of the two of them living in a Suburban a couple weeks when times were hardest. Marty protected Josh. He fed his son, kept him as active as possible playing football as both an outlet for Josh’s physical gifts and a diversion from those hard times. “You know the INFC Bulldogs? That’s where Josh started in the third grade,” Marty said. “Every team he was on up to sixth grade won championships. Seventh and eighth we won championships with McLain.” Football and family kept everything as regular as possible, until the family stabilized and their situation softened. “Even when our stomachs were empty, we would spend all night laughing to-
gether, as a family,” Jacobs wrote in The Players Tribune. His senior year at McLain High School, Jacobs had his hands on the ball every play. His highlight tape eventually found its way to Alabama. Now Jacobs finds his way through NFL defenses. The plan is to find a route back home once his rookie season is complete, to be a shining light like north Tulsa beacons Tyler Lockett and Felix Jones have been recently. “Use your platform to bless others,” Jacobs tweeted last May. There is a Bible verse pinned to the top of Jacobs’ Twitter page. It serves to remind his followers how far he has come, and how big of an inspiration he should be to his city. It reads: “The Lord is not slow in doing what he promised – the way some people understand slowness. But God is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives.” TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
2019 Tulsans of the Year
Pete and Tina Patel Thanks to couple, historic Tulsa Club Hotel lives again
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By Michael Overall / Tulsa World Magazine
he used to carry a car seat from room to room and leave her baby boy on the bed with a cup of Cheerios while she vacuumed the carpet and cleaned the bath. A hotel never stops, 24 hours a day, seven days a
week. “If you want to see your kids,” says Tina Patel, “you bring them with you.” Tina and her husband, Pete Patel, opened a small Best Western in Sand Springs in 1997, where they worked the front desk, cleaned the rooms, fixed leaky faucets and did pretty much everything else themselves. They worked there and lived there and started a family there, hardly ever getting a chance to leave the hotel. “We were folding towels, making beds, doing the laundry,” Tina says. “But we were learning the other side of the hotel business, too,” Pete interjects. “The accounting, the marketing, human resources, all the behind-the-scenes stuff. We learned how to do everything.” Tina’s family ran a mom-and-pop hotel in Missouri after immigrating from England in 1979. Coincidentally, that was the same year Pete’s family came from India to open a small hotel in El Reno. They both grew up living and working at small hotels. So it seemed perfectly natural for Pete, after graduating from Oklahoma State University and marrying Tina, to open his own Best Western. “After a few years, the hotel was very successful,” Pete says. “And we had to decide, ‘OK, do we want to sell it and move on and do something else? Or do we want to start to grow our hotel business?” Tulsa should be very thankful that they decided to start growing. Over the years, the Patels have owned or operated 27 hotels, going under several brand names and ranging across a wide range of price levels. Most recently, and most spectacularly, they opened the Tulsa Club Hotel this year. Designed by legendary Tulsa architect Bruce Goff in 1927, the Tulsa Club became known as one of the city’s most elegant art deco landmarks. But it sat vacant and deteriorating for more than 20 years before the Ross Group, a Tulsa-based development company, bought the building in 2015 for $1.5 million. Promise Hotels, owned by the Patels, became an equity partner. And together, the investors spent $36 million to fully renovate and remodel the structure, making it one of the most expensive hotels ever built in Tulsa, if not in Oklahoma, Pete says. Branded as a Hilton Curio, it’s one of Tulsa’s trendiest places to stay. But in some ways, it’s no difTULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
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ferent than the old Best Western where the Patels started. “It’s still about service and making sure that people receive the level of service they expect,” Pete says. “And we’re still very hands-on at all levels.” The baby Tina used to carry from room to room is now a senior in high school. And his parents hope he will follow them into the hotel business. “We’re not going anywhere,” Pete says. “Tulsa has been very good to us, and there is no place our family would rather be.” Tulsa World Magazine 37
2019 Tulsans of the Year
Ryan Jude Tanner and Jay Krottinger Tony award winners work to build Tulsa up, body and soul By James D. Watts Jr. / Tulsa World Magazine
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ay Krottinger and Ryan Jude Tanner, founders of the Tanninger Companies, may be best known for the success they have had with helping to produce some of the most acclaimed Broadway musicals in recent years. But their adventures on The Great White Way and in London’s West End represent just a portion of their endeavors to help build Tulsa up — body and soul. “It’s understandable that people are drawn to the Broadway stuff, because that’s where the glitz and the glamour is,” Krottinger said. And the awards. In June, Tanner and Krottinger earned their second Tony Award as co-producers of the radical revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!,” which won for Best Revival of a Musical. They won their first Tony Award — also for Best Revival of a Musical — in 2013 for the Cirque-du-Soleilstyle reworking of Stephen Schwartz’s “Pippin.” They also have invested in several other shows that were nominated for Tony Awards, including “Come From Away,” “Waitress” and “Memphis.” “On the other hand, we also backed ‘A Time to Kill,’ which definitely was not a hit,” said Tanner, laughing. Adapted from John Grisham’s first novel, the play by Tony Award-winner Rupert Holmes closed after running less than a month on Broadway. “And we remind ourselves about that often.” The next show the duo is helping to produce is one of particular interest to Tulsans — a musical based on S.E. Hinton’s iconic novel “The Outsiders” that is scheduled to debut in June at the 38 Tulsa World Magazine
Goodman Theater in Chicago. The book of the musical is being written by Adam Rapp, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance of the band Jamestown Revival are writing the music in association with Justin Levine, and Liesl Tommy, another Tony Award nominee, is directing. “With all our other Broadway projects,” Krottinger said, “we’ve come in relatively late in the process. We knew the shows were bound for Broadway. This is the first time we’ve joined a show that was still in the development stage. So far there have been two industry readings of the show (to attract potential investors), and we’re still in the process of casting. “The hope is that the show will ultimately make it to Broadway, of course,” Krottinger said, “but there’s no guarantee of that happening.” “That means the risk is higher,” Tanner added. “But we knew this was a project we had to be part of, because it fits perfectly with our goal of backing shows that in some way highlight Oklahoma, the talent that is here, and the stories we all have to tell.” Tanner and Krottinger first got into the producing game in 2013, with “Flipside: The Patti Page Musical,” which ran Off-Broadway and toured nationally. It had been written by Gary White, a professor of theater at the University of Central Oklahoma, where Krottinger earned a graduate degree in theater. However, they had already had a successful business in the health care industry, IQ Surgical, which specialized in designing and distributing medical devices, especially those used in orthopedic surgery. That business, now called Tanninger Sciences, has continued to expand into the fields of biotechnology and telemedicine, looking for ways to use new technologies that can provide patients and doctors with more efficient and effective
ways to diagnose and treat illnesses — from robotic surgeries for knee and hip replacements to helping those in rural and underserved areas have access to medical personnel and care via teleconferencing. “Our goal is to help support emerging technologies that can provide more positive patient outcomes with lower costs to the health care system,” Krottinger said. In addition to theater and medicine, the Tanninger Companies are involved in commercial development, such as the renovation of the old Swinney’s Hardware store in the Kendall-Whittier neighborhood that now houses the company’s offices along with TPC Studios, and hospitality, as co-owners of MixCo, the speakeasy-themed cocktail bar and restaurant in downtown Tulsa. “We have a very entrepreneurial spirit,” Krottinger said. “We take a great deal of joy in collaborating with people. And there is absolutely no way we could accomplish anything without our equity partners and investors.” As individuals as well as an organization, Krottinger and Tanner have been involved with about 15 local nonprofit organizations, from Theatre Tulsa to the Philbrook Museum of Art, whether serving as board members or through donations. “We both think it’s important to give back to the community, and Tulsa has been great for us,” Tanner said. “I know from personal experience how much impact something that might seem like a simple gesture can have on a person’s life.” “That’s one of the cool things about being involved in ‘The Outsiders’ musical,” Krottinger said. “We’ve visited the Outsiders House several times, and to be there when people come to see it, and hear them talk about how the book and the movie were so important and meaningful to their lives — to be a part of a new way of telling that story is something we knew we had to do.” TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
Ryan Jude Tanner (left) and Jay Krottinger. MATT BARNARD/ Tulsa World Magazine
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2019 Tulsans of the Year
Rick Muncrief WPX chairman, CEO invests big in Tulsa By Rhett Morgan / Tulsa World Magazine
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ith its drilling portfolio in west Texas, southeastern New Mexico and North Dakota, WPX Energy the past few years questioned whether to make Tulsa its permanent home. “It would have been really easy to think about Houston or Dallas-Fort Worth or Midland-Odessa or Denver, quite honestly,” WPX chairman and CEO Rick Muncrief says. “But when we looked at it, at the end of the day, we said we’ve done very well here. “We’ve reestablished the company identity. We’ve developed a much stronger culture. We felt that a lot of things were going our way, so let’s just dig in here.” And dig in it has. The company is expanding its local footprint by building an 11-story, 260,000-square-foot headquarters downtown at 222 N. Detroit Ave. The firm’s 450 employees are expected to move from the BOK Tower to the new facility by the spring of 2022. “It always helps me when people say, ‘Why Tulsa?’ ” says Muncrief, selected as one of Tulsa World Magazine’s Tulsans of the Year. “And I say, ‘Why not Tulsa? We’re an energy town. We have the world’s largest drilling contractor, H&P Drilling, located here.’” “They don’t have a comeback for that.” A 2011 spinoff from Williams Cos., WPX sported a 2018 Tulsa payroll of $55 million, paying out more than $10 million in employee bonuses via its annual incentive program. Company careers average at least $100,000 a year. Muncrief, who joined WPX in 2014 and was named chairman of the company two years later, is a third-generation energy worker. His first paying oil field gig was when he was 17 — his parents signed a waiver — and he roughnecked on drilling rigs through college. “I kind of grew up in it,” Muncrief says. “I was always enthralled with the drilling piece of it… When you’re 17, 18 40 Tulsa World Magazine
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years old and you get out around the big rigs and the iron — I always had like an engineer bent, so I liked things like loud engines and fast cars and big dams — it was really pretty exciting.” The same level of enthusiasm — over every demographic — can be found at WPX, he says. Muncrief is happy a city the size of Tulsa will be where the company’s future will play out. “There’s a vibe to Tulsa that I think is
really positive,” he says. “… If you have a 10- or 15- or 20-minute commute, that means you have 30 minutes a week or an hour of the week you can give back to the community. “It may be coaching Little League baseball. It may be teaching in Sunday School. It may be volunteering as a reading partner, helping the homeless. We’ve been really blessed, so we want to give back.” TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
2019 Tulsans of the Year
Eric Cullen Investigator’s bet on himself is freeing innocent people from prison By Jason Collington / Tulsa World Magazine
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e had a job that paid well with good benefits. He was running a business on the side. But Eric Cullen knew he needed to do something that would make everyone question his sanity. He needed to quit. “I became obsessed,” Cullen said, reflecting on that moment almost 15 years ago. “I was obsessed with doing what I felt like I was put on this world to do.” Everyone thought he had lost it. But Cullen said he had to take a bet on himself. That bet led to more than 50 stories in the Tulsa World, a Dateline episode earlier this year and motivated the Washington Post to write this in its lead editorial in July: “The fact of Mr. Cullen’s involvement, more than any innate self-corrective mechanism in the judicial system, was the critical factor in these cases. Had he not come along, and had he been less persistent, the men would likely still be incarcerated — and would have remained so until their deaths.” Since quitting his railroad job and selling his coney shop, Cullen and his team’s work as private investigators have led to six people walking out from prison after decades. Corey Atchison had his homicide conviction thrown out this summer. The event came three years after Atchison’s younger brother, Malcolm Scott, and De’Marchoe Carpenter were released. All three were declared innocent by a judge, thanks to Cullen and his team working with attorneys. “I read ‘The Innocent Man’ and the ‘Oklahoma Death Row Machine’ back to back,” said Cullen about the time he made the leap from his job as a Tulsa yardmaster. One was John Grisham’s first nonfiction book and the other was written by Mark Fuhrman, the detective made famous by the OJ Simpson case. TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
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Fuhrman delved into the Bob Macy era as district attorney in Oklahoma County. “I immediately started doing some research on the Innocence Project. I am a results person, and you couldn’t argue with their results. “So we came up with a pamphlet that I sent to Oklahoma prisons. That’s the one De’Marchoe and Malcolm responded to.” Cullen’s first investigation came years before his leap as a favor to his best friend’s mother. Shane Michael Spencer died of alcohol poisoning after being picked up by Tulsa police and placed in jail, where he was left face down for several minutes until someone checked on him. After Cullen put all the details together, a civil lawsuit led to a settle-
ment from the jail operator, and the city of Tulsa paid Spencer’s family $200,000. But most important to Cullen, Tulsa police changed how it handled such cases. For the kid who wrote to the FBI in eighth grade asking the best path to become an agent, Cullen said he finally feels like he’s in the right place in the world. Not only does he have his company, Cullen and Associates, he has also started a nonprofit organization called Another Chance Justice Project. “People who know and love me and have seen me backstage, this has not been without sacrifice,” Cullen said of his work. “People say congrats on the success and ask what’s next. But I am just getting started. Now, we have momentum.” Tulsa World Magazine 41
CHRISTMAS WITH A K
For holiday cheer, get the kids in the kitchen By Judy Allen For Tulsa World Magazine
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Photos by John Clanton Tulsa World Magazine
he only thing more fun than baking holiday treats is getting the kids involved. Aside from making memories to last a lifetime, getting kids to help out teaches them about ingredients, basic cooking and baking techniques, decision making and nutrition. It doesn’t hurt that there is a little math involved in preparing recipes. And it’s just plain old fun. From stirring to sprinkling to snacking, kids will love helping to whip up these holiday treats.
PEANUT BUTTER REINDEER COOKIES Makes 24 cookies These peanut butter cookies only have three ingredients and are a breeze, even for the tiniest hands, to put together. candies such as 1 egg, lightly beaten 1 cup creamy peaM&M’s or Red nut butter 48 mini pretzels Hots 1 cup sugar Small, round red 48 candy eyeballs 1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl beat the peanut butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until combined. Add the egg and beat to combine. 2. Divide and shape the dough into 24 balls. Place 6 dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press and shape dough balls to make elongated triangles. 3. Press the pretzels into the top of the cookies to make antlers. Bake for 8 minutes, or until just golden and set. While cookies are still warm, press a red M&M or cinnamon candy on the tip to make a nose, and press two candy eyeballs in the top center to make eyes. Let cool completely on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough. — Adapted from Parents.com
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Grinch Popcorn Makes 10 cups What better way to ring in the Christmas season than with a warm blanket, the ‘Grinch Who Stole Christmas’ movie and a big bowl of Grinch Popcorn? Even the grinchiest of folks will love this sweet, salty, green snack. 10 cups of generously salted, popped popcorn 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 3½ cups mini marshmallows Green food coloring (electric green makes a great shade of Grinch) Red M&M’s, Red Hots or other small red candies
Gingerbread House Cookies Makes 3 pounds of dough After much experimentation in the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living, this has become my go-to recipe for intensely scented and sturdy gingerbread. 1½ teaspoons coarse brown sugar 6 cups all-purpose salt flour, plus more for 4 teaspoons ground work surface 2 large eggs ginger 1 teaspoon baking 1 cup unsulfured 4 teaspoons ground soda molasses cinnamon ½ teaspoon baking 1½ teaspoons ground Red, white and green powder decorating icing cloves 1 cup (2 sticks) Small assorted can1 teaspoon finely unsalted butter dies and marshground pepper mallows 1 cup packed dark 1. Sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder into a large bowl. Set aside. 2. Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide dough into thirds; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour. 3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to a ¼-inch thick. Cut into snowflakes with a 7-inch snowflake-shaped cookie cutter. Space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. Bake cookies until crisp but not dark, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating. — Adapted from Martha Stewart Living TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
1. Place popcorn in a large bowl and set aside. Spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside. 2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add 3 cups mini marshmallows to pan and stir until melted. Turn off the heat and add food coloring to the marshmallow mixture, stirring until it is the desired shade of Grinch green. 3. Add marshmallow mixture to the popcorn, stirring until well coated. Transfer popcorn to prepared cookie sheet, add remaining ½ cup mini marshmallows and red candy while popcorn is still warm. 4. Allow to cool completely, break apart and serve.
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BUDDY THE ELF BREAKFAST COOKIES Makes about 2 dozen These treats, straight from the Candy Cane Forest, are perfect for a cozy afternoon holiday movie marathon. As Buddy would request, they are full of candy, candy canes, candy corn and syrup. Chocolate syrup, that is. 1 12-ounce bag white chocolate chips 3 cups chow mein noodles ½ cup small marshmallow bits 1 jar hot fudge sauce, warmed enough to drizzle 1 cup assorted candy cane pieces, sprinkles, candy corn, and other small candies 1. Add chow mein noodles and marshmallow bits to a large bowl. Melt white chocolate in 30-second intervals in the microwave, stirring in between, until melted (about 2 minutes). Pour over the noodles. 2. Drop spoonfuls of mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. 3. Top with a drizzle of fudge sauce and a sprinkle of candies and refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes. — Adapted from Delish.com
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MARSHMALLOW CHRISTMAS WREATHS
EASY WHIPPED CREAM
Makes 24 Cornflakes get dressed for the holidays in this classic sweet treat that families have been making for decades. ½ cup unsalted butter 1 16-ounce package regular marshmallows 1 teaspoon green paste food coloring 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 6 cups flaked corn cereal, such as Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Red cinnamon candies, for decorating Holiday-tinted sprinkles and/or nonpareils, optional, for decorating
Makes 2 cups Freshly whipped cream is far better than that stuff out of a can. Use a Mason jar like a cocktail shaker to whip the cream up in no time. 1 cup heavy cream 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Place a large piece of parchment paper on the counter and spray it lightly with cooking spray. 2. Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Stir in food coloring and vanilla. 3. Add cereal, stirring until well coated. 4. Portion warm cereal mixture evenly by using a ¼-cup dry measure coated with cooking spray. Using sprayed fingers, quickly shape into individual wreaths. Immediately dot with cinnamon candies, for they will stick better while the mixture is warm. Store in single layer in airtight container.
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1. Combine heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar and vanilla extract in a 1-quart glass jar. Screw the lid on the jar and freeze it for 15 minutes. This helps firm up the walls of the cream’s butterfat cells so they can trap and hold air bubbles. 2. Shake the jar vigorously until semi-soft peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes. Refrigerate until ready to use.
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Renu your brain, Renu your life
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enuYou Neurofeedback Brain Fitness Center in Tulsa is anything but new to the business of helping people lead brain-healthy lives. Dr. Barry Gardner and his wife and business partner, Cyndie Gardner, say they were called by God to bring neurofeedback to Oklahoma 11 years ago after a friend experienced relief from panic attacks through neurofeedback. RenuYou is physician-staffed and board certified, offering
Marie McCabe is RenuYou’s clinical director. She received her master’s degree from Oral Roberts University and is a licensed marriage and family therapist and is certified in EMDR. McCabe says neurofeedback is helpful in improving the way a person’s brain is wired, relieving areas where people suffer trauma, such as helping to decrease confusion, anxiety and depression. “By calming the fear center, we can decrease trauma-based problems and improve executive functioning, which allows clients to process their trauma with improved mental clarity and an increased ability to regulate emotionally when processing,” she says. McCabe has experienced the results firsthand. Her husband was in a traffic accident that left him lethargic and with decreased cognitive efficiency. “After 20 sessions of neurofeedback his brain lit up, he lost the lethargy, and gained back his mental clarity and processing,” she says. “What surprised me is he began showing marked improvement within the first six sessions.”
licensed professional therapists who can provide an integrated treatment protocol that includes professional counseling in addition to neurofeedback. “We are passionate about studying the brain,” Cyndie Gardner says. “We get a lot of referrals from physicians, mental health therapists and teachers.” She adds, “We started out with a small office – less than 1,000 square feet – and now have 15 employees and eight therapy rooms in a 4,000-square-foot facility.”
Debra Watkins is a graduate of Oral Roberts University’s Christian counseling program with a master’s degree in marital and family therapy. Watkins is certified in clinical hypnotherapy as well as cognitive behavioral therapy. “I believe neurofeedback, combined with psychotherapy and clinical hypnotherapy, promotes wholeness and healing through joining advanced technology with a trusted therapeutic relationship,” Watkins says. “Neurofeedback retrains the dysfunctional brainwaves to reduce symptoms, which then allows more clarity for processing thoughts, feelings and emotions through clinical hypnotherapy and the psychotherapeutic process.” Watkins adds that “seeing the natural resulting consequences of increased self-confidence, reports of being more willing to engage with others, and the overall contentment and peace witnessed in the lives of children and adults has been truly remarkable.”
Joshua Beavers is a licensed professional counselor who received his master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of Central Oklahoma. He is excited to combine neurofeedback with traditional psychotherapy. “My clients state that they enjoy counseling sessions that blend neurofeedback and psychotherapy,” he says. “I like to begin the counseling session with neurofeedback and then transition to psychotherapy.” Beavers says clients often report feeling calmer and more focused after completing the neurofeedback treatment, and this helps the client and practitioner collaborate on goals in the psychotherapy sessions. “I’m always surprised to hear similar progress reports from different clients,” Beavers says. “Multiple parents have told me that the frequency and intensity of their children’s behavioral problems decreased.”
SPONSORED BY RenuYou Neurofeedback Brain Fitness Center / 7424 S. Yale Ave. Ste. 100. 46 Tulsa World Magazine
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Neurofeedback Brain Fitness Center
RENU Your Brain, RENU Your Life Tired of prescription drugs that are not always effective and can cause unwanted side effects? RenuYou Neurofeedback Brain Fitness Center has the technology to retrain your brain to produce healthier brain wave activity and perform at its optimal level. Considered to be one of the most advanced drug free therapies of this technological generation, neurofeedback is being used to treat a wide range of issues including ADHD, Anxiety, Concussions, Depression, Insomnia, complications from Strokes and also for achieving Peak Performance for Academics, Sports, Dance and Music. The American Academy of Pediatrics calls it an A1 level “best choice” for treating ADHD and the U.S. Military is using it for PTSD related mental health.
RenuYou starts with a qEEG (quantitative brain wave analysis) that records the electrical activity and coherence of the brain. Brain wave patterns are then interpreted by a doctor or certified specialist to determine the correct protocol for each individual. Once treatment begins, RenuYou used “reward biofeedback” that features watching a movie. As sessions progress, normal brain wave patterns begin to manifest. Once these healthier neuropathways are forged, they become a permanent part of the brains productivity.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Marie McCabe, MA, LMFT, BCN, clinical director at RenuYou says, “Our mission statement is to empower people to be healthy as God intended, beginning with a fully functional and optimal brain.”
Every thought you think and every emotion you feel is due to the electrical firing of neurons that manifest as brainwaves such as Alpha, Beta, Delta and Theta. Excessive Beta, for example can produce anxiety, too much frontal Alpha may result in depression and elevated Delta and Theta can often relect ADD/ADHD.
“My son was discharged, from the Navy, at 18 years old for ADHD. I brought him to RenuYou and the treatment did exactly what they told me it would do. He was able to proceed with his career without the dysfunction of attention deficits. We could not have been happier with the outcome and are so very thankful!”
RenuYou Neurofeedback Brain Fitness Center is physician staffed, Board Certified with Professional licensed therapists and are certified brain health coaches under renowned neuroscientist Dr Daniel Amen.
Call today for a complimentary consultation. You’ll see why doctors all over the country refer their patients to RenuYou Neurofeedback Brain Fitness Center.
“My eight year old daughter used to have multiple melt downs, often hitting herself, pulling out her hair, throwing things and hitting others. After treating at RenuYou, our daughter is so much happier. She is more relaxed, able to do school work, can read better and is able to express her feelings in healthier ways. RenuYou neurofeedback has been amazing! They have helped us find the joy in our family again.”
RENUYOU NEUROFEEDBACK BRAIN FITNESS CENTER 7474 S YALE AVE • 918-747-7400 • RENUYOUTULSA.COM BCIA Certified • Physician Staffed • Licensed Professional Therapists
Holiday Gift Guide 2019
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he holiday season should be a time of the year that makes you feel warm all over. Don’t get stressed out while searching for gifts for friends and loved ones. Let us play the role of Santa’s little helper and recommend possible gift items for consideration. Whether you’re looking for toys, gadgets or clothes and accessories, we’ve got suggestions to hopefully put you on the right path. Happy hunting!
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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2019 Clothing and accessories By Ashley Parrish For Tulsa World Magazine
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alk into Bella’s House almost any day of the year and you’ll be greeted warmly with offers to help you find anything you’re searching for. Same thing at Pardon My French, Amber Marie & Co. or any number of local boutiques we had the pleasure of shopping in for our latest gift guide. On these pages, you’ll find clothing and accessories for men, women and kids. And they can all be found locally.
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Black Sheep Boutique
5219 S. Sheridan Road, 918-561-6079 This wide-brimmed felt hat comes in black, olive or khaki and is perfect with dresses or even a sweater and leggings. $28.
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Amaranth Collection FEATURED SHOP
Bella’s House
4830 E. 61st St., Suite 210; 7890 E. 106th Place, 918-970-4022
8007 S. Sheridan Road, Unit G, 918-392-7858 This cute boutique has fuzzy sweaters and scarves that would make any woman happy. But it’s the Gucci-inspired belts in a variety of colors and textures that people can’t get enough of. $10-16.
Accessories like the Q New York charging bracelets in polished gold, silver and black are what keeps people coming back to Bella’s House. Not only do they look great on for men and women, but the bracelets will charge all Apple products. The store also carries a huge selection of Kendra Scott and is the only authorized local dealer outside of the branded shops. Also find Landella, a local jewelry line made completely in Tulsa, from the beads to the finished product. Landella starts at $20. Photos by JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World Magazine
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The Snow Goose
1814 Utica Square, 918-749-6043 This nifty wallet makes getting the right card out simple. Just flip a slide, and five cards appear. The RFID technology keeps thieves from scanning your info, which makes it perfect for travel. $89.95. Tulsa World Magazine 51
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Pavilion
1826 Utica Square, 918-743-8601 Pamper someone with these silky pajama separates that Pavilion can barely keep in stock from PJ Harlow. Laura gray tank, $53; Jolie gray pants, $68; Shelby gray jacket, $82 or Frankie top in eggnog, $72; Mikel shorts in eggnog, $48. Slippers from Goody Goody, $49.
J Spencer
1703 S. Utica Ave., 8303 S. Memorial Drive, 870 S. Hillside Drive, BA This store stocks everything from inexpensive Pure Vida bracelets that are a hit with teens to the glitzy LaVie collection, which is set with Swarovski crystals. One of the most popular is a tennis-style bracelet, $106. Daintier versions start at $46. 52 Tulsa World Magazine
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Lollygarden
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2046 Utica Square, 918-742-6300 Nothing is more fashionable among the preschool set than “Frozen,” and this is the store to get cute, glittery shoes that are inspired by the movie. $65. For boys, the ever popular Native brand offers comfort and style. They start at about $45.
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Boomtown Tees
114A S. Elgin Ave., 918-938-6000 This downtown store has locally themed holiday tees, pint glasses and ornaments — all for $10.
Ribbons
3525 S. Peoria Ave., 918-743-7599 Customers are going crazy for this P.J. Salvage champagne-colored sherpa jacket. It comes in XS-XL. $96. Pair it with a rose gold, sequined flask clutch that is sure to be the talk of a New Year’s Eve party. $32.
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Donna’s Fashions
10051 S. Yale Ave., 918-299-6565 The owner of this longtime Tulsa boutique makes popular earrings with the Steel Magnolia brand. These gray earrings are $48, and a perfect match for this faux-fur poncho, $136.
MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World Magazine
Amber Marie & Co.
4932 E. 91st St., No. 106; 7021 S. Memorial Drive, Suite 155A at Woodland Hills Mall This adorable shop has jewelry, home decor and more. One hot seller is the Big O key ring, $24.99, which makes finding your keys easy. While we were there, customers were asking for the matching cardholder, which will be in stock for the holidays.
— Featured gifts brought to you by our sponsors.
MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World Magazine
MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World Magazine
Pardon My French
9168 S. Yale Ave., Suite 160, 918-728-7250 Every woman needs a sleek little purse for events or just to sling across your shoulder on the go. Pardon My French stocks a variety of Caroline Hill bags that come with a long crossbody strap or a wristlet. The best part? Keep them stocked and throw them in bigger, everyday bags to grab on the go and keep things organized. $37.50. TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
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Tulsa Powersports is taking Tulsa motorsports to a new level
T
ulsa Powersports aims to build on a storied company’s successes. Over the years, Honda of Tulsa established itself as the go-to place for motorcycle enthusiasts, adding side-by-sides, watercraft, and modern trikes along the way. The dealership’s new owners intend to build on that legacy. “We are taking the proud tradition the previous owners set and we’re going to pour some rocket fuel in it,” says Tim Kirk, who along with his wife, Tracy, purchased the dealership on Oct. 1. Honda of Tulsa is now Tulsa Powersports, a name change that embraces the dealership’s history and broad support for the powersports community throughout Oklahoma. “The previous owners, Bobby Donnell and Russ Hackler, made ‘21st and Yale’ a landmark for motorcyclists in Oklahoma,” says Ty Davis, general manager for Tulsa PowerSports. They set a high bar for the business, and the Kirks plan to raise that bar even higher. Tulsa Powersports will quadruple its inventory of used bikes to provide more riding and racing options for longtime and potential customers. The dealership also will add new brands to its current, new unit lineup. In addition to Honda, KTM dirt bikes, Can-Am, SeaDoo and Spyder, Davis says the dealership will add KTM’s line of street bikes as well as StaCyc electric balance bikes — just to name two! StaCyc — which stands for stability cycle — are similar to Strider balance bikes in that they have no pedals and teach children balance and hand-eye coordination. Stacyc bikes have a small electric motor that turns them into dirt bikes for kids once batteries are inserted. “They have hand brakes, throttle controls and three different speed levels,” Davis says. “It’s certainly a natural way to prepare a 3- to 9-year-old to ride a bicycle or motorcycle.” Because of Kirk’s passion for all kinds of racing, Tulsa Powersports will also support Oklahoma racing events and venues such as Tulsa Raceway Park, Chili
ABOVE: Bobby Donnell, Debbie Hackler and Tim Kirk at Tulsa Powersports, 4926 E. 21st St. Kirk, along with his wife, Tracy, recently purchased the dealership from Donnell and Russ Hackler.
Bowl Nationals, Tulsa Shootout, MidAmerica Outdoors and Jandebeurs Motor Sports Park. MidAmerica Outdoors is a gamechanging 750-acre outdoor park located in Jay that has trails, climbing hills and race tracks for all-terrain and utilityterrain vehicles. Jandebeurs is the largest family-oriented motorsport park in the Midwest, offering multiple trails, race tracks, a clubhouse and concessions at its 170-acre facility in Okmulgee. In a nod to Kirk’s love of racing, Tulsa Powersports will feature Oklahoma’s own micro and midget standout driver 17-yearold Holley Hollan in its promotion. “Tim really wants to celebrate the grassroots racing and riding community. He wants to support the people who support the sport,” Davis says. Tulsa Powersports will continue the
dealership’s excellent maintenance and repair services, with an increasing ability to work on all makes and models of motorcycles, ATVs and more. Davis says Kirk’s connection to Honda of Tulsa dates back to when he was a kid. He would hang out at the dealership at all opportunities, eventually becoming friends then employee of former owners Bobby Donnell and Russ Hackler. “He grew up crazy about motorcycles, so it is no surprise he has such a passion for this industry,” Davis says. “He has a constant drive to ensure premium products and service and develop friendships within the community.” Kirk is also passionate about making sure his 25 employees thrive. Most have been with Honda of Tulsa for years. “Tim wants to amplify the energy, passion and success that Honda of Tulsa had,” Davis says. “His goal is to make Tulsa Powersports the best motorcycle dealership in this area of the country and to become the source for all things powersports in Oklahoma.”
SPONSORED BY Tulsa PowerSports / 4926 East 21st Street / 888-395-5135 / hondaoftulsa.com 56 Tulsa World Magazine
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IS THE ALL NEW
SALE S
|
SERVICE
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PART S
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ACCE SSORIES
RUBICON UNITS STARTING AT
$
8,699 Financing Available
4926 E 21st | 918.744-5551 | TulsaPowersports.com Honda | Stacyc | KTM | Can-Am | Sea-Doo | Spyder | Ryker | Honda Generators & Lawn Equipment
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2019 Experiences By Ashley Parrish For Tulsa World Magazine
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MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World Magazine
ometimes the best gifts don’t come wrapped. Give your friends and families the gift of experiences this holiday season and enjoy the photos and memories forever.
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FEATURED GIFT
Stay at Cedar Rock Inn
cedarrockinn.com, 918-447-4493
Treat your partner to a romantic getaway at Cedar Rock Inn, a beautiful B&B just minutes from downtown Tulsa. The inn, which was built in 1890, has one-ofa-kind rooms with handmade doors, walls and floors and extra special touches for guests like homemade chocolate chip cookies and gourmet breakfasts. Book an inroom massage for an even more indulgent gift. Luxury suites start at $169. And if you’ve ever wanted to tour the historic inn, an open house has been set for 1-5 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 5. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World Magazine
Main Event
7830 S. Santa Fe Ave., 918-447-1200 If you’re unsure of what to get for the kids — or even the moms and dads — in your life, give them family fun. A gift certificate to Main Event gets you bowling, laser tag, video games or a ropes course. Plus, there’s pizza and dessert for the kids and a full bar for everyone else.
Xtreme Kart Racing and Virtual Reality Arena
708 W. Kenosha St., Broken Arrow, 918-286-6655 Know someone who loves to go fast? This track in Broken Arrow has karts that approach 45 mph, and feel like 60 mph. Junior races are available for kids 6-12 years old. And adult races get even faster. Gift certificates are available online.
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FEATURED GIFT
BOOK A PHOTO BOOTH WITH COCOA EVENTS AND MARKETING cocoaeventsandmarketing.com
Know someone who is getting engaged over the holidays? Or just want to make somebody’s birthday or New Year’s Eve celebration unforgettable? Get them Tulsa’s trendiest photo booth. Cocoa Events and Marketing has full-length interactive mirrors that display animations, prompt partygoers and print out high-quality keepsake photos. And the host gets a copy of all of the photos on a glass USB drive. Prices start at $500. — Featured gifts brought to you by our sponsors.
THE GIRL CAN COOK COOKING CLASSES
315 S. Main St., Broken Arrow, 918-381-8947 Chef Candace Conley owns this shop in Broken Arrow’s Rose District. Treat the cook in your life — or someone who wants to learn to cook — to a class that includes sampling what you make. Classes range from soups and 20-minute meals to kids classes and date night events. 60 Tulsa World Magazine
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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2019 Health and wellness
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e all know people who prefer to pamper themselves rather than crowd their closets with stuff. They would love these gifts.
By Ashley Parrish For Tulsa World Magazine
SPA GIFT CERTIFICATE
MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World Magazine
Emerge Spa & Salon at River Spirit Casino Resort, 8330 Riverside Pkwy., 918-995-8909 We all could use a little indulgence and relaxation, and Emerge Day Spa offers both at River Spirit Casino Resort. Make a day of it with a stop by Emerge before taking in a concert. They offer all the spa treatments you could want. A gift certificate makes a great gift, and don’t forget to treat yourself.
GIVE THE GIFT OF RELAXATION AT H2OASIS FLOAT CENTER AND TEA HOUSE
FEATURED GIFT
AMERICAN SHAMAN TULSA WOODLAND BEAUTY BUNDLE
8016 S. Memorial Drive, 918-994-7194
The CBD Beauty Bundle is all about the self-care and loving maintenance of your body, on the inside and out. The water soluble 300 hemp supplement is 100% organic and is up to 10 times more bioavailable than oil. The Hydrating Body Lotion, Replenishing Face Cream and Under Eye Serum will soothe your soul and brighten your skin, leaving you with a healthy natural appearance. Valued at $190, on special for $150.
6564 E. 51st St., 918-938-7368 Until you’ve experienced floating, you may not know what true relaxation is. These saltwater pools keep your body afloat in total — or partial, if you prefer — darkness. Get someone a gift card for a one-hour float with a 20-minute oxygen aromatherapy session and tea for $94. A couple’s float experience starts at $110. A onehour float is $75. Order online at h2oasisfloatcenter.com. And check out the new Lucia lights for more relaxation opportunities.
— Featured gifts brought to you by our sponsors. TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2019 Toys By Jimmie Tramel Tulsa World Magazine
SHASHIBO
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Kiddlestix, 3815 S. Harvard Ave. This has magnets in it and it keeps your hands busy as you try to shape and mold it into a cube. In the process, the changing patterns are almost like a kaleidoscope come to life. $19.99.
oys are synonymous with the Christmas season. If you visit local shops, you’ll find the latest and greatest toys for children — and, of course, you may want to play with them, too. Here are a few of our “finds” for the gift-giving season.
JOSEPH RUSHMORE/for Tulsa World Magazine
AIRFORT
Kiddlestix, 3815 S. Harvard Ave. Who wouldn’t want to hang out in a “bubble” fort filled with air? A box fan is not included, but you’ll need one for inflation. $49.99.
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BOOM BRICK
Kiddlestix, 3815 S. Harvard Ave. Place your mobile phone on the Boom Brick to listen to music or watch a movie and the aptly named device will “boom” the sound around the room. $34.99 and $39.99.
JOSEPH RUSHMORE/for Tulsa World Magazine
FOAM ALIVE
Kiddlestix, 3815 S. Harvard Ave. This foam isn’t really alive, but it moves as if it has a mind of its own. Is it magic? $3.50-$19.99 (set).
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STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World Magazine
PLAN TOYS RAMP RACER
Tulsa Toy Depot, 10114 S. Sheridan Road If you have the wheels, you have the skills to enjoy this toy. It gets a lot of action in the play area of Tulsa Toy Depot. $60.
JOSEPH RUSHMORE/for Tulsa World Magazine
JAWS GAME
Tulsa Toy Depot, 10114 S. Sheridan Road Based on the classic movie “Jaws,” this game accommodates 2-4 players age 12-up. You’re going to need a bigger boat. $46.
TWO BROS BOWS
Tulsa Toy Depot, 10114 S. Sheridan Road Embrace your inner archer with a bow and arrow set that has soft-tip foam arrows for safe play. It’s OK for ages 6-up. $29.99.
JOSEPH RUSHMORE/for Tulsa World Magazine
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JOSEPH RUSHMORE/for Tulsa World Magazine
CHRISTMAS STAR FROM AFAR
Tulsa Toy Depot, 10114 S. Sheridan Road If you would like kids to experience a toy that is actually linked to the true meaning of Christmas, this daily interactive game is all about a Nativity scene. $39.95.
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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2019 Home, garden and food By Judy Allen For Tulsa World Magazine
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othing says holidays like a house full of decorations and a kitchen full of food and treats. We’ve got some great suggestions for decor and gift ideas for your home and garden. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World Magazine
LADIES GAME NIGHT ASSORTMENT
BEADS AND BASIL CANDLES
beadsandbasil.com Shannon Smith, Tulsa’s cooking instructor/jewelry maker/travel and food blogger/dinner party host extraordinaire, has spent years defining her Beads and Basil brand, which is now captured in a beautiful scent by the folks at The Nest. The fragrance includes oils of basil, lemon, tomato and sandalwood, and each glass-cased candle is decorated with beads Smith brought home from her travels to Rwanda and Murano. $20 (small) or $28 (large), available for purchase from Smith’s website. 64 Tulsa World Magazine
Mecca Coffee Company, 1330 E. 41st St., 918-749-3509 Put together a gift basket with a few favorites from Mecca Coffee Co., such as these gifts, perfect for a ladies’ game night. Chardonnay Go board game, $39.99; “Drink up Grinches” cocktail napkins, $5; “Crunch Time” and “Hangry” bamboo cocktail plates, $10; Corkcicle wine glasses, mugs and canteens, $25 and up; Z Wraps cheese paper/plastic wrap replacement, $8-$25.
BRETT ROJO/For Tulsa World Magazine
THE GIFT OF A GARDEN
Grogg’s Green Barn, 10105 E. 61st St., 918-994-4222
MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World Magazine
The Reserve at Grogg’s Green Barn offers seasonally themed garden-to-table dinners, featuring dishes made from vegetables and fruits grown in Grogg’s own gardens. Pulling from Grogg’s themed “cocktail” and “salsa” gardens on the store’s property, owner Carla Grogg cultivated a potted herb combination able to grow in a windowsill throughout the winter — try rosemary, sage and thyme for the holidays. Come spring, transplant the herbs to the garden. TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
FEATURED GIFT
SANTA DECOR
Margo’s, 2058 Utica Square, 918-747-8780
Margo’s, one of Tulsa’s oldest gift shops, has a wonderful selection of seasonal items, including all things Santa! There are Santas of all shapes, sizes and prices. This embellished Santa print by local artist Chelsea McShane would be the perfect decoration for the holiday. They also have stuffed Santas, like this one from Jelly Cat, a company that makes stuffed animals. Or, go the traditional route, with a Steinbach Nutcracker or a Santa ornament.
BRETT ROJO/For Tulsa World Magazine
THE NAP NOOK’S TULSA PILLOWS
Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios on 66, 1347 E. 11th St. Mary Beth Babcock’s pint-sized curio shop on 11th Street (Historic Route 66) may be small, but it’s packed to the brim with unique gifts, T-shirts and artwork. Front and center are the Tulsa-themed pillows created by Brooke Cox for The Nap Nook. Cox, who has narcolepsy, learned to sew as a therapy to deal with the depression that comes with chronic illness and social anxiety. She makes each pillow (Napper) herself, with fabric covered in Tulsa scenes and landmarks, including Buck Atom himself. $40.
TULSA SNOWGLOBE
Ida Red, 3336 S. Peoria Ave., 918949-6950 For those of us who love Tulsa, there is no better gift than this hand-painted and -sculpted snow globe that spotlights our city’s skyline. It is an annual favorite. $49.95.
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BRETT ROJO/For Tulsa World Magazine
CHEESE AND CHARCUTERIE BOARDS
TA Lorton, 1325 E. 15th St., 918-743-1600 Pop into TA Lorton and choose from a well-curated assortment of handmade, hard to find, whimsical objects, including these gorgeous charcuterie boards, made from reclaimed Hungarian wood or wax coated wood. Boards range from $35 to $250.
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FEATURED GIFT
Oklahoma cooking accessories
Okie Spice & Trade Co., 107 N. Main St., Sand Springs, 918-514-0045
Stop by and check out Okie Spice’s new location in the middle of downtown Sand Springs while you are doing your holiday shopping this year. An Oklahoma apron, $22, or mug, $12.50, by artist Faye Passow might be the perfect thing you are looking for. Passow’s line, Keep The Faye, has been very popular at the store. You may remember the Oklahoma dish we featured last year.
Joseph Rushmore/For Tulsa World Magazine
Nora Fleming Serving and Bakeware Pieces
Cook’s Nook, 9146 S. Yale Ave., 918-933-6767 Cook’s Nook is the only store in the area that sells Nora Fleming bakeware and serveware. One gift for every occasion, the platters, cake stands, baking dishes and other pieces are all ready to accept one of over a hundred handpainted “minis.” Choose from seasonal, holiday, entertaining, tailgate or many other themes. Minis range from $13 to $15. Bakeware and serveware start at $25.
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Bubba-Q-Boys Rub
Josh and Kristy White of Bixby (known as the Bubba-QBoys on the competitive barbecue circuit) turned their passion for ’cue into a family business. Bubba-Q-Boys BBQ Rub is “salty sweet with just a lil’ heat” and consists of garlic, kosher salt, onion powder, brown sugar and a few other secret spices. The gluten-free rub is available in a 12 oz. bottle for around $8 at many locations around town, including Jack Wills Outdoor Living, Ida Red, Perry’s Deli and Meat Market, Okie Spice & Trade Company, The Cook’s Nook, Local Farm OK and online at bubba-q-boys.com. TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
FEATURED GIFT
COOKIE TINS
All Things Cake, 6808 S. Memorial Drive, 918-994-4490
All Things Cake is featuring a new product this year, in addition to their full menu of holiday treats. You can purchase tins that come with six undecorated chocolate chunk cookies and six cookies decorated with icing with the themes of “Furry Christmas,” “Wintery Woodland Animals,” “Merry Catmas” or custom. For the custom cookies, you can text or email photos or artwork that they will put on the cookies. The holidaythemed tins are $24, custom $30. All Things Cake also has all the tools you need for your own baking projects. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World Magazine
JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World Magazine
HOLIDAY MUGS AND PLATES
Adorn, 317 S. Trenton Ave., Suite B, 918-271-5733 It’s hard to make it through the holiday season without a piping hot mug of cocoa. Why not drink to Santa in one of several darling Christmas mugs available at Tulsa’s newest holiday, home and gift shop, where owner Whitney Eslicker says she is “spreading festivity and joy one piece of glitter at a time.” While you’re at it, serve appetizers or desserts alongside on holiday-themed plates. All pieces $13 to $15.
— Featured gifts brought to you by our sponsors.
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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2019 Gadgets and more By Patrick Prince Tulsa World Magazine
W
hether you want to spend more than $10,000 on a TV or spend $10 on a stocking stuffer, here are some interesting items you might consider as Christmas gifts (or just buy one for yourself ).
TRAEGER GRILLS PRO 575
Hahn Appliance Warehouse, 6710 S. 105th East Ave., 918-622-6262 The pellets that Traeger Grills use give the meat a smoky flavor. The results are tasty, but the Traeger Pro 575 takes it a step further and helps you cook your meat. Download recipes from the Traeger app, then send them to your grill and it will guide you through the cooking process. $799.95.
COUNTER TOP NUGGET ICE MACHINE
SONOS MOVE PORTABLE SPEAKER
Video Revolution, 7030 S. Lewis Ave., 918-495-0586 For a portable smart speaker that’s great for outdoor or indoor use, try the Sonos Move. It’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capable. The new Moves are cordless and can stay docked on a charging cradle or be used remotely with 10 hours of battery life. $399.
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SAMSUNG FAMILY-HUB REFRIGERATOR
Hahn Appliance Warehouse, 6710 S. 105th East Ave., 918-622-6262 This Samsung Family-Hub refrigerator does everything an iPad or tablet can do with a display screen on the door. A camera inside allows you to see remotely. Get notifications on expiring food items such as milk. Play Pandora. Load your shopping list. Family-Hub refrigerators have been available for a few years, but prices have dropped dramatically. $2,100.
Hahn Appliance Warehouse, 6710 S. 105th East Ave., 918-622-6262 It’s known as nugget ice, but in Oklahoma, we call it Sonic ice, and who doesn’t love Sonic ice? This countertop nugget ice machine will make it for you at home, and it’s compact enough to not consume a lot of counter space. $499.95.
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FEATURED GIFT
UNIQUE GUNS
Dong’s Guns, Ammo and Reloading, 4144 E. Admiral Place, 918-834-7989
IAN MAULE/Tulsa World Magazine
If you are shopping for someone who prefers outdoor sports or unique weapons, Dong’s is a retail hunting and shooting store that specializes in the hard-to-find items. For someone special on your shopping list, stop by and check out the Colt singleaction Army in .45 caliber long Colt, priced at $1,799.95. Dong’s also has Ruger Wranglers in caliber .22 caliber long. Black is $175, and the silver or bronze are $185.
SONY 85” 8K TV
Video Revolution, 7030 S. Lewis Ave., 918-495-0586 If you’re feeling really ambitious, look into an 85” 8K Sony TV. The TV has 16 built-in speakers (four subwoofers). TVs featuring 8K are fairly new and there’s not a lot of 8K content currently, but the view is amazing. $12,999.99.
55” SONY MASTER SERIES ON SHOES
Gearhead Outfitters, 1948 Utica Square, 918-878-9966 For a great everyday or running shoe try On, a Swiss shoe company. The shoes feature a unique sole that is billed as having a soft landing with firm push. $129 to $199.
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Video Revolution, 7030 S. Lewis Ave., 918-495-0586 This 55” (65” and 77” also available) Sony Master Series features OLED (organic light-emitting diode), which is the next-generation advance of regular LEDs and LCDs, or liquid crystal displays, that produces a stunning picture. It also has a build-in sound bar mounted on the back of the TV. The sound comes through the screen. OLED TVs have been around for a few years, but now they are more affordable. $2,499.
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FEATURED GIFTS
Honda generator, motorcyle
Tulsa Powersports, 4926 E. 21st St., 888-395-5135
Tulsa Powersports has a showroom full of great gift ideas. Weighing less than 47 pounds, the Honda EU2200i generator is incredibly portable. It offers 3.2 to 8.1 hours on a single tank. Two identical models can be paralleled with an optional cable for up to 4,400 watts of power. $1,009. The Honda CB1000R has cutting-edge styling, and a high-revving 998cc fourcylinder engine that’s specially tuned for mid-range and top-end power. The CB1000R is light, powerful, responsive and it is motorcycle riding in the purest form. $12,999.
Cardsmart multi-tool
The Gadget Company, 104 E. 15th St., 918-749-9963 A great Christmas stocking stuffer, the Cardsmart is a credit card-sized multi-tool for everyday essentials that can fit into your wallet. Features included one Phillips and three flathead screwdrivers, up to 20 wrench sizes, 1/4� hex drive, can opener, bottle opener, ruler and more. $9.99.
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BLUNDSTONE BOOTS
Gearhead Outfitters, 1948 Utica Square, 918-878-9966 Great for men and women, the Blundstone boots were described by one female employee as “utility dress boots.” Pictured here in rustic brown. $194.95.
FENIX PD36R FLASHLIGHT
The Gadget Company, 104 E. 15th St., 918-7499963 The Fenix PD36R is a compact, handy flashlight that produces 1,600 lumens (the same as a 100-watt bulb). It will last two and half hours on full blast. Featuring an on-off button on the back, it also has a dimmer and a strobe setting. The two-way clip allows you to anchor the flashlight on your belt or to your hat while you change a tire. It’s USB-C rechargeable and can go from dead to 100% recharged in four hours. $100.
YETI LOADOUT GOBOX
The Gadget Company, 104 E. 15th St., 918-749-9963 Well known for their insulated products, in 2019 Yeti has expanded into gear boxes. The LoadOut GoBox is a durable lockbox that is waterproof up to three meters (about 10 feet). It also features a removable internal divider tray and three mesh pouches. $249.
STARGAZE LUXURY RECLINER
Gearhead Outfitters, 1948 Utica Square, 918-878-9966 Great for camping, tailgating or any outdoor use, the mesh Stargaze Luxury Recliner by Nemo also swings, has a head cushion, drink holder and storage pouch. Made to withstand the elements. Packs into a carrying bag. $219.95
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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2019 FRY BREAD: A NATIVE AMERICAN FAMILY STORY
Books By James Royal Tulsa World Magazine
B
ooks can make a personal, memorable gift for friends and family. The right book shows you took the time to think about the person receiving your gift, which is a lot better than a pair of socks or a sweater they’re not going to like. But picking the right one can be a daunting task, with bookstore shelves lined with thousands of copies of works ranging from mysteries to fantasy to biographies to romance to kids’ books to self-help to classics to almost anything else you can imagine. To help make it a little easier, and to put a little Oklahoma spin on your gift giving, here’s a list of some great books that have been released in the past couple of years that have a tie to the Sooner state, with selections for adults and for children.
AT THE MOUNTAIN’S BASE
By Traci Sorell, illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre $17.99 Sorell, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, offers a touching salute to Native American women’s military service, and Alvitre’s beautiful art wonderfully enhances Sorell’s poetic tribute.
By Kevin Noble Maillard, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal $18.99 Food is at the heart of many family and cultural traditions, and Maillard, originally from Oklahoma and a citizen of the Seminole Nation, shows how a traditional dish like fry bread holds so much more meaning to a family than just being a dish. Alongside whimsical and engaging illustrations from Caldecott Award winner Martinez-Neal, Maillard’s debut makes for a wonderful tale of family and heritage. Plus, it includes Maillard’s fry bread recipe.
MAKING A FRIEND
By Tammi Sauer, pictures by Alison Friend $17.99 Sauer, an Edmond resident, offers up a sweet story about friendship and teamwork. A wonderful book for reading to a young child while snuggling together to keep warm in the winter cold.
THE SURVIVOR TREE: OKLAHOMA CITY’S SYMBOL OF HOPE AND STRENGTH By Gaye Sanders, illustrations by Pamela Behrend $20 This one packs an emotional punch in a good way. Sanders, a teacher in Mustang, does an impressive job communicating an important, tragic moment in our state’s history in a way that isn’t upsetting for young readers.
THE CAT WHO GOT FRAMED
Written and illustrated by Katie Turner $18.99 This tale is about one of the beloved Philbrook cats who decides he doesn’t want to live in the museum’s gardens anymore but instead wants to live in the hallowed halls of Villa Philbrook itself. Available at the Philbrook Museum or online at shop.philbrook.org.
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Where the Dead Sit Talking
By Brandon Hobson $25 Hobson, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, tells a poignant story of a 15-year-old Native American boy in Oklahoma coming to grips with his life in the foster care system after his single mother is sent to prison.
Dust Bowl Girls
By Lydia Reeder $26.95 This book is for the sports historian in your life. Reeder, an Oklahoma native living in Denver, brings to life the stories of a barnstorming women’s basketball team from Oklahoma Presbyterian College in Durant, the first women’s collegiate team to win the American Athletic Union’s National Basketball Tournament.
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Tulsa 1921: Reporting a Massacre
By Randy Krehbiel $29.95 Krehbiel, a Tulsa World reporter, examined every piece of reporting from the Tulsa World and the Tulsa Tribune on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, as well as a plethora of other historical records, to put together this compelling history of the event.
The Andromeda Evolution
By Daniel H. Wilson $29.99 Five decades after the release of Michael Crichton’s groundbreaking novel, “The Andromeda Strain,” Wilson — a Tulsa native, Cherokee citizen and New York Times best-selling science fiction author — picks up the story of a deadly extraterrestrial microbe that is evolving to threaten mankind again.
An American Sunrise: Poems
By Joy Harjo $25.95 The first new volume of poetry from the first Native American Poet Laureate (and Tulsa World Magazine Tulsan of the Year) explores her roots as a member of the Muskogee (Creek) Nation and how that history shapes experiences in the world today.
Unnecessary Sorrow
By Joe Hight $24 Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Famer Joe Hight turns his investigative skills on a story close to his heart — his brother’s life and untimely death after being shot by Oklahoma City police after long struggles with mental illness. Hight uses his brother’s story to explore how the Oklahoma justice system handles mental health issues.
Building Tulsa: The Story of a City and Its World-Class Architecture
By Michael Overall $39.95 A new book from the Tulsa World tells the story of Tulsa’s history through its incredible architecture. Interesting stories and breathtaking photography make this a must-have.
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
By David Grann $28.95 There will be plenty of interest in this book in the next couple of years as the film version directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro steals headlines. The nonfiction tale weaves money, sex, power, race, murder and Oklahoma’s longstanding lifeline — oil — together in a fascinating narrative that led to the modern-day FBI. Tulsa World Magazine 73
Celebrating
50 Tulsa Ballet reaches ‘Nutcracker’ milestone BY JAMES D. WATTS JR. TULSA WORLD MAGAZINE
T
ulsa Ballet began with “The Nutcracker.” When company founders Roman Jasinski and Moscelyne Larkin gave what would be the debut performance A reunion dinner will be held prior to of what would become Tulsa that evening’s performance; participants Ballet, these stars of the Balmay purchase tickets to both the dinner let Russe de Monte Carlo inand performance, as well as tickets for cluded in the evening only the dinner or the show. excerpts from this Tulsa Ballet’s original “Nutclassic holidaycracker” was staged by themed ballet, set to Jasinski and Larkin after Tchaikovsky’s enduring the original production music. by Marius Petipa and Yet it would not be Lev Ivanov. For the presented by Tulsa Ballet until 1969 that the first few years, the Dec. 7-22 at the Tulsa PAC, company would prescompany would bring 101 E. Third St. ent its first full-length in leading dancers For more: production of “The from around the countulsaballet.org Nutcracker,” which try to perform the main featured New York City roles of Sugar Plum Fairy Ballet luminaries Jacques and the Prince. d’Amboise and Melissa Then, in 1978, the comHayden in the principal roles. pany presented its first “all-Tulsa” Tulsa Ballet is celebrating the 50th production. A new set, designed by Jay anniversary of this milestone in the Depenbrock and featuring a gigantic company’s history as it presents “The Christmas tree that grew to epic proporNutcracker” for eight performances tions, debuted in 1979. Each year, the throughout the month of December. production would employ as many as The company is also encouraging 300 children during the course of the those who have performed in NutcrackTulsa run — one of whom was future ers past, whether as children or profesTony Award-winning star Kristin Chesional dancers, to take part in “The Nutnoweth — and would often tour regioncracker Alumni Night,” Saturday, Dec. 21. ally. 74 Tulsa World Magazine
“The Nutcracker”
Set in 1920s Paris, the birthplace of classical ballet, Marcello Angelini’s vision of The Nutcracker has been a Tulsa favorite since 2003.
Tulsa Ballet decided to retire the Jasinski-Larkin production in 2002, and in 2003 unveiled its new “Nutcracker,” created by artistic director Marcello Angelini, which radically reimagined the story. Angelini moved the action from the storybook setting of the original to 1920s Paris and commissioned some of Europe’s finest costume and set designers to create a world of glamour and magic. The ballet would undergo continuous changes and updates, so that every year longtime audiences would see something new. And while the new version was not universally embraced by Tulsa audiences at its premiere, Tulsa Ballet’s “Nutcracker” is routinely the company’s most successful show of the year — and truly a Tulsa holiday tradition. But it’s a tradition that may soon change. Tulsa Ballet has plans to create a new version of “The Nutcracker” in the near future, so now is the perfect time to experience “The Nutcracker,” whether for the first — or the 51st — time. TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
arts the
Tulsa in
Current and upcoming events around the area
Red Concepcion and Emily Bautista in “Miss Saigon.” Photo by Matthew Murphy
TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
>>12/31-1/5, Miss Saigon The creators of “Les Miserables” turn their talents to a re-telling of the opera “Madama Butterfly,” set during the final days of the Vietnam War and the fall of Saigon, as a young woman becomes involved in a tragic romance with an American soldier. WHERE: Tulsa PAC, 101 E. Third St. FOR MORE: celebrityattractions.com
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Patrons and press attend a preview of a new exhibit by Pakistani-American artist Anila Quayyum Agha at the Philbrook Museum of Art on Nov. 6. JOSEPH RUSHMORE/For the Tulsa World
>>Through 12/29, OK: Jason Lee Photographs and Larry Clark: Tulsa These two shows present two different views of Tulsa and Oklahoma — Clark’s dark, violent, ultimately heartbreaking portfolio of true “Outsiders” in the 1960s and ’70s and Lee’s disquietingly serene vistas of Oklahoma’s cities, lands and towns, and the traces humans have left behind. WHERE: Philbrook Downtown, 116 E. Reconciliation Way FOR MORE: philbrook.org >>Through 1/5, Dorothea Lange’s America Dorothea Lange is famous for a single image — “Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California,” which put a very human face on the Great Depression. This show features 30 of Lange’s photographs, with images by other photographers working during those troubled times. WHERE: Gilcrease Museum, 1400 N. Gilcrease Museum Road FOR MORE: gilcrease.org
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>>Through 2/16, Shadow of Time: Anila Quayyum Agha Agha uses simple elements — light, shadow, space and pattern — to create communal experiences of beauty and wonder. This exhibition brings together recent sculptural works and drawings, featuring a large-scale installation that fills the gallery and envelops the viewer in illuminated patterns. WHERE: Philbrook Museum of Art, 2727 S. Rockford Road FOR MORE: philbrook.org
presenting this full-length holiday classic, about a young girl’s Christmas dream of magic and romance. WHERE: Tulsa PAC, 101 E. Third St. FOR MORE: tulsaballet.org. >>12/7, Christmas with the Petersens This Branson-based family bluegrass band will let everyone know that “Christmas Time’s A-Comin’” with a program of holiday and gospel songs.
>>Through 3/15, Recall/Respond: Tulsa Artist Fellowship and Gilcrease Museum Collaboration (Phase II) The second part of this unique collaboration between members of the Tulsa Artist Fellowship and Gilcrease Museum features contemporary responses to the museum’s permanent collection. WHERE: Gilcrease Museum, 1400 N. Gilcrease Museum Road FOR MORE: gilcrease.org
WHERE: Tulsa PAC, 110 E. Second St.
>>12/7-12/22, The Nutcracker Tulsa Ballet celebrates its 50th anniversary of
WHERE: Tulsa PAC, 110 E. Second St.
FOR MORE: tulsapac.com >>12/12-12/23, A Christmas Carol Ebenezer Scrooge may have a lot of money, but he has little else — as a trio of spirits reveal during one eventful night. This original musical adaptation by Robert Odel and Richard Averill is one of the longest-running productions of “A Christmas Carol” in the country, and again will feature Karl Krause as Scrooge. FOR MORE: americantheatrecompany.org TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
> 12/13-12/14, Christmas in Tulsa The Signature Symphony and Signature Chorale will be joined by vocalist Sam Briggs, winner of the orchestra’s 2019 Tulsa Sings! competition for an evening of classical and popular holiday music. WHERE: VanTrease PACE, 10300 E. 81st St. FOR MORE: signaturesymphony.org > 1/10-1/26, The Music Man Theatre Tulsa presents a new production of Meredith Willson’s classic musical, about the con man Harold Hill who tries to bilk an Iowa town of its money — until he loses his heart to the town’s very proper librarian. WHERE: Tulsa PAC, 101 E. Third St. FOR MORE: theatretulsa.org > 1/11, Strauss and Schumann Oklahoma-born opera star Sarah Coburn joins guest conductor Daniel Hege and the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra for a concert featuring Richard Strauss’ transcendent “Four Last Songs,” and Robert Schumann’s tragically expressive Symphony No. 2. WHERE: Tulsa PAC, 101 E. Third St. FOR MORE: tulsasymphony.org > 1/20-1/22, Blue Man Group: Speechless Calling a Blue Man Group show “Speechless” may seem redundant, as these cerulean-headed performers never speak. What they do is create all sorts of music and mirthful mayhem with the most unusual of materials. WHERE: Tulsa PAC, 101 E. Third St. FOR MORE: celebrityattractions.com > 12/21, Christmas with Brian Nhira The former “The Voice” contestant will bring some of his fellow contestants to town for what is being billed as the “grand finale” of the Christmas concert series. WHERE: VanTrease PACE, 10300 E. 81st St. FOR MORE: tulsacc.edu > 1/24, Ian David Rosenbaum Praised by The New York Times for his excellent and precisely attuned performances, percussionist Ian David Rosenbaum returns to Tulsa for a special solo performance. WHERE: Tulsa PAC, 110 E. Second St. FOR MORE: choregus.org
TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
Karl Krause has performed as Ebenezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol” for about 30 years. TULSA WORLD FILE
> 1/25, Shostakovich Five As part of the Signature Symphony’s “Connecting the Dots” series, music director Andres Franco will lead the audience through a detailed exploration of the musical and philosophical themes of the Symphony No. 5 by Shostakovich, followed by a performance of the symphony in its entirety. WHERE: VanTrease PACE, 10300 E. 81st St. FOR MORE: signaturesymphony.org > 1/31-2/1, Harry Potter in Concert “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” the third film in the popular fantasy series, will get the symphonic treatment, as a full orchestra performs John Williams’ score while the film is projected on an oversized screen. WHERE: Tulsa PAC, 101 E. Third St. FOR MORE: tulsapac.com
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LET’S GO. 12/20 ǷǷ
TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA The multi-platinum, critically acclaimed progressive rock group Trans-Siberian Orchestra will be bringing its highly-anticipated Winter Tour 2019 back to Tulsa! Returning with all-new staging and effects is the unforgettable show that started it all, “Christmas Eve and Other Stories.” WHERE: BOK Center, 200 S. Denver Ave. FOR MORE: bokcenter.com
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TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
Trans-Siberian Orchestra returns to the BOK Center. Courtesy/Bob Carey
>>12/07, CODY JOHNSON Texas native Cody Johnson returns to BOK Center on Saturday, Dec 7. He will be bringing some of his closest country friends to perform, including Joe Diffie, The Steel Woods and Jesse Raub Jr. WHERE: BOK Center, 200 S. Denver Ave. FOR MORE: bokcenter.com
>>12/13-12/14, ‘WHITE CHRISTMAS’ AT CIRCLE CINEMA The showing of the Christmas-movie favorite, with host Jody McIntyre leading the audience in an immersive version of the film, has become a Tulsa tradition, and tickets go fast. WHERE: Circle Cinema, 10 S. Lewis Ave. FOR MORE: circlecinema.com
>>12/07, THE WOOD BROTHERS The Wood Brothers have partnered with Thistle Farms so that $1 from every ticket sold will go toward helping women survivors recover and heal from trafficking, prostitution, and addiction. WHERE: Cain’s Ballroom, 423 N. Main St. FOR MORE: cainsballroom.com
>>12/18, A DRAG QUEEN CHRISTMAS It’s a magical (and hilarious) evening of holiday performances featuring contestants from reality television show “RuPaul’s Drag Race” on VH1. WHERE: Brady Theater, 105 W. M.B. Brady St. FOR MORE: bradytheater.com
>>12/08, CRISS ANGEL Magician and illusionist Criss Angel will make himself appear on a stage near you. Angel is the star of a successful Las Vegas show and has been on primetime television for more hours than any magician in history. WHERE: Osage Casino’s Skyline Event Center, 951 West 36th St. North FOR MORE: osagecasinos.com >>12/10, IL DIVO: A Holiday Song Celebration The multinational Il Divo consists of four male singers known for collaborations with some of the biggest names in music. They have sung with Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion and were formed by music executive Simon Cowell. WHERE: Brady Theater, 105 W. M.B. Brady St. FOR MORE: bradytheater.com >>12/13, GARY ALLAN Since his 1996 debut, Allan has released nine studio albums that have sold more than 7 million copies, been certified platinum on three back-to-back albums, and been certified gold five times. His hits include “Man to Man,” Tough Little Boys,” “Nothing On But the Radio” and “Watching Airplanes.” His 2013 release of “Set You Free” topped the Billboard 200 Pop charts, which marked a career first for Allan. WHERE: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, 777 W. Cherokee St., Catoosa FOR MORE: hardrockcasinotulsa.com >>12/14, TULSA CHRISTMAS PARADE The starting line is at Seventh Street and Boston Avenue. A block party will be 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14 at H.A. Chapman Green Park at Sixth and Main streets. The parade’s overall theme this 93rd year is “Rocking Around Tulsa Town.” WHERE: Starts on Boston Avenue and Seventh Street FOR MORE: tulsachristmasparade.org >>12/14, JOSH ABBOTT BAND Country group Josh Abbott Band will perform at Cain’s Ballroom. The band’s sophomore album “She’s Like Texas” includes the single “Oh, Tonight,” a duet with Kacey Musgraves. WHERE: Cain’s Ballroom, 423 N. Main St. FOR MORE: cainsballroom.com
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>>12/18, EDGE CHRISTMAS CONCERT Cain’s Ballroom welcomes the Edge Christmas Concert with Angels & Airwaves and Phantogram. WHERE: Cain’s Ballroom, 423 N. Main St. FOR MORE: cainsballroom.com >>12/21, BASKETBALL SHOWDOWN DOUBLEHEADER Calling all basketball fans: Oklahoma State University and the University of Tulsa host Minnesota and Colorado State at the BOK Center Basketball Showdown Doubleheader. WHERE: BOK Center, 200 S. Denver Ave. FOR MORE: bokcenter.com >>12/22, CIRQUE MUSICA HOLIDAY WISHES Cirque Musica presents Holiday Wishes brings a holiday story to life in a full theatrical cirque event. Featuring the world-renowned cast of Cirque Musica with your favorite holiday hits all performed live by a full symphony orchestra. Audiences will be amazed by the acrobats, aerialists, hilarious hijinks and holiday cheer. WHERE: River Spirit Casino Resort, 8330 Riverside Parkway FOR MORE: riverspirittulsa.com >>12/27, STEVE MILLER BAND Steve Miller has been an enlivening presence on the American music scene for more than half a century. To begin with, he was a mainstay of the San Francisco music scene that upended American culture in the late ‘60s. WHERE: River Spirit Casino Resort, 8330 Riverside Parkway FOR MORE: riverspirittulsa.com >>12/27-12/28, “ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW” RHPS returns to the big screen for its 13th consecutive year. Let’s do the Time Warp again, and, as usual, audience participation is encouraged. Join in on the fun as hapless Janet and Brad attempt to navigate the exotic and erotic castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry). WHERE: Circle Cinema, 10 S. Lewis Ave. FOR MORE: circlecinema.org >>12/28-12/30, PAW PATROL LIVE PAW Patrol Live returns to save the day with “The Great Pirate Adventure.” Don’t miss your chance to see all your favorite pups in Tulsa. WHERE: BOK Center, 200 S. Denver Ave. FOR MORE: bokcenter.com Tulsa World Magazine 79
> 12/29, JOHN FOGERTY John Fogerty, whose voice you hear in classic Creedence Clearwater Revival songs, will perform at Paradise Cove inside the River Spirit Casino Resort. A rock icon, Fogerty was the lead singer and guitarist in Creedence Clearwater Revival, a band whose hits include “Bad Moon Rising” and “Fortunate Son.” His solo career took off in the 1980s with his chart-topping single “Centerfield” and other songs. WHERE: River Spirit Casino Resort, 8330 Riverside Parkway FOR MORE: riverspirittulsa.com > 12/30, JACKSON BROWNE Jackson Browne has written and performed some of the most literate and moving songs in popular music and has defined a genre of songwriting charged with honesty, emotion and personal politics. WHERE: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, 777 W. Cherokee St., Catoosa FOR MORE: hardrockcasinotulsa.com > Through 12/31, PHILBROOK FESTIVAL Celebrate the holiday season with Philbrook as the museum comes alive with festive holiday music, décor and thousands of lights reflecting the spirit of the season. Visitors enjoy self-guided group activities in the museum and gardens, cash bar featuring hot cocoa and food items, and Philbrook lit for the holiday season — creating the perfect photo backdrop for all. WHERE: Philbrook Museum of Art, 2727 S. Rockford Road FOR MORE: philbrook.org/festival > Through 12/31, CASTLE CHRISTMAS Experience one of the world’s largest collections of holiday inflatables and Christmas lights during Castle Christmas at the Castle of Muskogee. Bring the whole family and hop on an old-fashioned, tractor-drawn hayride or snuggle with someone special on a horse-drawn carriage ride throughout the Christmas village. WHERE: The Castle of Muskogee, 3400 W. Fern Mountain Road, Muskogee FOR MORE: okcastle.org > Through 1/01, GATHERING PLACE WINTER WONDERLAND Gathering Place will once again transform into a Winter Wonderland, spreading holiday cheer with special performances and carolers, festive food, holiday drinks, a train for kids and of course
NYE EVENTS > 12/31, COLTER WALL Cain’s Ballroom welcomes Colter Wall to Tulsa, OK on New Year’s Eve. WHERE: Cain’s Ballroom, 423 N. Main St. FOR MORE: cainsballroom. com > 12/31, TOTALLY AWESOME ‘80s NEW YEAR’S EVE Celebrate New Year’s Eve ’80s style with 100.9 Totally Awesome ’80s. The night includes a dinner buffet and complimentary champagne toast. WHERE: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Tulsa, 6110 S. Yale Ave. FOR MORE: totallyawesometulsa.com
> 12/31, THE LADY TURNS 10, THE MAYO HOTEL Blow Out The Candles With Us and Celebrate The Lady Turning 10! Ring In The New Year in Our Legendary Crystal Ballroom, Luxurious Penthouse Rooftop Bar. WHERE: Mayo Hotel, 115 W. Fifth St. FOR MORE: themayohotel. com > 12/31, RON WHITE NEW YEAR’S EVE SHOW Comedian Ron “Tater Salad” White, who first rose to fame as the cigar-smoking, scotchdrinking funnyman from the Blue Collar Comedy Tour phenomenon, has long since established himself as a star
thousands of twinkling lights turning the five-acre Adventure Playground into a festive holiday village. WHERE: Gathering Place, 5620 S. John Williams Way FOR MORE: gatheringplace.org > Through 1/1, RHEMA CHRISTMAS LIGHTS See a display of more than 2 million lights synchronized to Christmas music. Visitors to Rhema can drive through, walk around the park or view the displays from a horse-drawn carriage. WHERE: Rhema Bible Church, 1025 W. Kenosha St., Broken Arrow FOR MORE: rhemalights.org > Through 1/5, GARDEN OF LIGHTS The Tulsa Botanic Garden is illuminated with lights for the holidays. Visitors can make s’mores over fire pits and enjoy holiday music. Other events include visits from St. Nick and Holiday Express Train rides. Thursdays-Sundays, 5-10 p.m. WHERE: Tulsa Botanic Garden, 3900 Tulsa Botanic Drive FOR MORE: tulsabotanic.org > Through 1/5, WINTERFEST Downtown Tulsa is transformed into a festive
in his own right. Over the past 15 years, WHERE: River Spirit Casino Resort, 8330 Riverside Parkway FOR MORE: riverspirittulsa. com > 1/1, HANGOVER BALL 2019 Kick off the new year on the right note with Cody Canada, BJ Barham, William Clark Green, Mike McClure, Micky Braun, Jamie Lin Wilson, Kaitlin Butts, Gary Braun and Adam Hood performing at Cain’s Ballroom. WHERE: Cain’s Ballroom, 423 N. Main St. FOR MORE: cainsballroom. com
wonderland during Winterfest. Experience outdoor ice skating, see Oklahoma’s tallest outdoor Christmas tree, take a ride in a horse-drawn carriage, listen to live entertainment and browse beautiful holiday light displays. WHERE: Adjacent to the BOK Center in downtown Tulsa FOR MORE: bokcenter.com > 01/09, RICK SPRINGFIELD Over the past four decades, Rick Springfield has worn many hats as an entertainer and performer. The creator of some of the finest power-pop of the ’80s, a Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and musician who has sold 25 million albums and scored 17 Top 40 hits, including “Jessie’s Girl,” “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” “An Affair of the Heart,” “I’ve Done Everything for You,” “Love Somebody” and “Human Touch.” WHERE: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, 777 W. Cherokee St., Catoosa FOR MORE: hardrockcasinotulsa.com > 01/10, FRANK CALIENDO Comedian, actor, and impressionist Frank Caliendo has been making people laugh his entire life. He is well known for his impressions of famous personalities WHERE: River Spirit Casino Resort, 8330 Riverside Parkway FOR MORE: riverspirittulsa.com > 1/13-18, CHILI BOWL The Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals is an annual competition for Midget Sprint Car racing. Held each year for more than 30 years, these races attract more than 200 drivers from around the world. Four qualifying nights lead up to the championship competition. See cars zoom around the clay oval track and perform stunts. WHERE: Expo Square, 4145 E. 21st St. FOR MORE: chilibowl.com > 1/16-1/19, CIRQUE DU SOLIEL AXEL Cirque du Soleil is back on ice with AXEL, a new electrifying experience fusing world-class ice skating with breathtaking acrobatics. Follow AXEL and his dynamic group of friends whose passion
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> 1/27-2/2, TULSA BOAT, SPORT & TRAVEL SHOW
Celine Dion will return to the BOK Center for the first time since 2009.
The annual Tulsa Boat, Sport & Travel Show will feature displays of canoes, runabouts, sail boats, house boats, cruisers, boat docks, vans, tent campers, trailers, pick-up camper units, motor homes and motorcycles. See hundreds of boats including fishing boats, cruisers, ski boats, pontoons, personal watercraft and more. WHERE: Expo Square, 4145 E. 21st St. FOR MORE: tulsaboatshow.com > 1/31, SMACKDOWN LIVE!
> 2/05, CELINE DION One of the most immediately recognized and widely respected superstars in pop music history, Celine Dion, will stop in Tulsa on her Courage world tour. This is her first U.S. tour in over 10 years. WHERE: BOK Center, 200 S. Denver Ave. FOR MORE: bokcenter.com
Don’t miss your chance to see the Big Dog Roman Reigns, Universal Champion “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley, Braun Strowman, “Legit Boss” Sasha Banks, plus Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan, Carmella, Lacey Evans, The Miz, Lucha House Party, Ali and many more. WHERE: BOK Center, 200 S. Denver Ave. FOR MORE: bokcenter.com > 02/07, JON PARDI Jon Pardi broke out onto the Nashville scene by finding his way into the songwriting community and learning from songwriters like Brice Long, who co-wrote Randy Houser’s ballad “Anything Goes” and Gary Allan’s No. 1 single “Nothing On But The Radio.” Pardi also became particularly close with Bart Butler, who emerged as Pardi’s co-producer. WHERE: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, 777 W. Cherokee St., Catoosa FOR MORE: hardrockcasinotulsa.com
for live music and graphic arts come to life in an exhilarating adventure that reminds us our dreams are within reach. WHERE: BOK Center, 200 S. Denver Ave. FOR MORE: bokcenter.com > 01/17, CHRIS TUCKER Actor and comedian Chris Tucker will bring his latest tour to The Joint inside Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa. Tucker is known for the “Rush Hour” film series with Jackie Chan after coming to prominence in his first starring role, the 1995 cult classic “Friday” with Ice Cube. WHERE: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, 777 W. Cherokee St., Catoosa FOR MORE: hardrockcasinotulsa.com > 01/23, BRET MICHAELS Bret Michaels is returning to The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Michaels first stepped into the spotlight as the frontman of the band Poison. He and his bandmates sold more than 40 million records worldwide and produced numerous hit singles like “Something To Believe In,” “Nothin’ But A Good Time” and “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.” WHERE: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, 777 W. Cherokee St., Catoosa FOR MORE: hardrockcasinotulsa.com > 1/24-26, GREEN COUNTRY HOME & GARDEN SHOW Head to the largest free home and garden show in northeast Oklahoma. Find inspiration for your next project and get decorating, health and lawncare ideas from the professionals. WHERE: Expo Square, 4145 E. 21st St. FOR MORE: exposquare.com TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
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The End. MICHAEL
OVeRALL A transplant from Ponca City, Overall has now lived in Tulsa for nearly 20 years and has been writing for the Tulsa World just as long. He is a projects team reporter and proud father of two.
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Did Sam Walton’s prediction about Tulsa come true?
S
ometime around 1982, department store tycoon Sam Walton made a bold prediction about the way Tulsa would look in the year 2020.
Woodland Hills Mall was barely older than a second-grader, and 71st Street still had more cow pastures than fast-food franchises. But the city was undeniably growing in that direction, and Walton told his friend, hotel magnate John Q. Hammons, that retail development would keep moving south and east away from downtown. By 2020, Walton said, the retail center of Tulsa would be 10 miles southeast of 71st Street and Mingo Road. Hammons still believed it in 2002, when he was developing the $40 million Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center near 71st and U.S. 169, less than a mile east of Mingo. His hotel was opening in the middle of the city’s busiest retail district, but within two decades the Renaissance would be standing several miles away from the most popular shopping area, Hammons told the Tulsa World at the time. Walton’s forecast would put the center of Tulsa, economically speaking, near 131st Street and Evans Road west of Coweta, where you will find little more than scattered houses and not so much as a gas station, much less a major shopping district. But that’s taking him literally. Walton probably just meant that retail development would move generally to the south side of Broken Arrow, where the gigantic and hugely popular Warren Theater opened in 2014 near 121st Street and Aspen Avenue just south of the Creek Turnpike. A Walmart Supercenter has stood nearby since 2003. But still, that hardly makes it the retail epicenter of metropolitan Tulsa. Walton was wrong. But why?
Broken Arrow’s Rose District has become one of the most successful revitalization projects in the Tulsa area. STETSON PAYNE/Tulsa World Magazine file
For one thing, a lot of retail development headed south toward Bixby instead of southeast toward Broken Arrow. And of course, Walton didn’t anticipate the disruption that would be caused by the internet, which has made a smartphone screen the “retail center” of every city, Tulsa being no exception. He wasn’t counting on downtown revitalization, either. Trendsetters prefer Broken Arrow’s Rose District to the Creek Turnpike. If retailers can’t beat online prices and convenience, they’ll compete by offering a better “experience,” which means broad sidewalks and quaint storefronts might have a brighter future than strip malls. The real question is whether Walton was completely wrong and Tulsa’s “retail center” won’t ever move that far south, or was he wrong only about how long would it take? TULSAWORLDMAGAZINE.COM
Holidays not all they’re cracked up to be?
Warren Clinic Urgent Care
For sudden illnesses, minor injuries and after-hours care that can’t wait, visit the convenient Warren Clinic Urgent Care near you.
HOLIDAY HOURS:
REGULAR HOURS:
December 24 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Monday – Friday: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (all locations)
Christmas Day Closed
Saturday: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Springer location only) 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (all other locations)
December 31 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. January 1
8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
TULSA Springer Building 6160 South Yale Avenue Tulsa Hills 7858 South Olympia Avenue South Memorial 10506 South Memorial Drive
Sunday:
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (all locations)
BROKEN ARROW Elm Place 2950 South Elm Place, Suite 120 (101st Street and Elm Place) Kenosha 1801 East Kenosha Street (71st Street and OK-51)
SAND SPRINGS 102 South Main Street
Online scheduling is available at warrenclinic.com/urgentcare. For additional information, call 918-488-6688.