WALK THE YARDS

EXPLORE

OKLAHOMA NATIONAL STOCKYARDS

› Sales take place every Monday and Tuesday and are open to the public.

› 2501 Exchange Avenue

› (405) 235-8675

› onsy.com

EXCHANGE PHARMACY

› 2300 Exchange Avenue

› (405) 235-4242

MUSEUM OF HORSESHOEING

› 2200 Southwest 13th Street

› (405) 724-8861

› horseshoeingmuseum.com

EAT

CATTLEMEN’S STEAKHOUSE

› 1309 South Agnew Avenue

› (405) 236-0416

› cattlemensrestaurant.com

LOS COMALES

› 1504 South Agnew Avenue

› (405) 272-4739

MCCLINTOCK SALOON & CHOP HOUSE

› 2227 Exchange Avenue

› (405) 232-0151

› mcclintocksaloon.com

STOCKYARDS SARSAPARILLA

› 1307 South Agnew Avenue

› (405) 601-4438

› stockyards-sarsaparilla.com

SHOP

BENTLEY-GAFFORD CO.

› 1320 South Agnew Avenue

› (405) 658-5738

GELLCO CLOTHING & SHOES

› 1200 South Agnew Avenue

› (405) 232-4445

› gellco.com

GRAIN & GRANGE

› 1312 South Agnew Avenue

› (405) 208-8301

› grainandgrange.com

LANGSTON’S WESTERN WEAR

› 2224 Exchange Avenue

› (405) 235-9536

› langstons.com

LITTLE JOE’S BOOTS

› 2219 Exchange Avenue

› (405) 236-2650

› littlejoesboots.net

NATIONAL SADDLERY

› 1320 South Agnew Avenue

› (405) 239-2104

› nationalsaddlery.com

OKLAHOMA NATIVE

ART & JEWELRY

› 2204 Exchange Avenue

› (405) 604-9800

› oknativeart.com

Old-fashioned sodas and candy are plentiful at Stockyards Sarsaparilla.

The sells a variety of gear for riding, roping, and living the Western life.

THERE’S SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE IN STOCKYARDS CITY.

SHORTY’S CABOY HATTERY

› 1007 South Agnew Avenue

› (405) 232-4287

› shortyshattery.com

SOLE BROTHERS

SHINE PARLOR

› 1122 South Agnew Avenue

› (405) 919-8579

› okcsolebrothers.com

WILD FILLY BOUTIQUE

› 1014 South Agnew Avenue

› (405) 415-1980

› shopwildfilly.com adjacent businesses run by some nighunforgettable characters.

Every fall, the annual Stockyards Stampede features a parade of longhorns through the district.

Founded in 1910, the Oklahoma City National Stockyards is the largest stocker and feeder cattle market in the world. More than a hundred million cattle have passed through over the course of its history.

ONE OF THE area’s must-meet proprietors is Lavonna “Shorty” Koger, who owns the world-famous Shorty’s Caboy Hattery, where everyone from workaday cowpokes and rodeoers to stars of Western films and TV shows like Yellowstone have found cowboy crowns to adorn their heads.

“Anybody who wears a Shorty’s is famous,” Koger is known to say with a wry smile.

Koger is a 2021 National Cowgirl Hall of Fame inductee, and she creates her hats from beaver and other furs, hanging them neatly across a log cabinstyle wall in her rustic showroom. As a steamer pools water onto the concrete floor, one of Koger’s employees uses it to custom-shape a hat under a cowboy customer’s watchful eyes.

Pair Koger’s grit and independent spirit with a modern, minimalist twist, and you get Michelle and Todd Miller. They own the Grain & Grange furniture and design firm inside a former feed and seed building that later became a meat market and café where, back in the day, boarders got a heckuva surprise when they didn’t pay their rent and found the manager had thrown their belongings out the windows.

No defenestrations—of objects or people—occur here today. The Millers work on the building’s second floor, where the old brick walls and upstairs windows allow their creations to bask in natural light, their unique design projects combining repurposed metal and wood for one-of-a-kind furniture with a WildWest-meets-industrial-chic flair.

“The building had been completely gutted, and new infrastructure, includ- ing a new roof system, were installed,” says Michelle. “When we moved in, it was just the shell. We finished renovating, put in an office, storage, and restrooms, and then we decorated.” gear, so Stockyards City long has been a suiting-up hot spot.

Modern takes on the Wild West are everywhere in Stockyards City. At McClintock Saloon & Chop House— named for the famous 1963 John Wayne film McLintock! —a periodstyle painting of a scantily clad woman hangs behind the fifty-foot bar where patrons sip more than 180 varieties of whiskey. From here, diners pass through a red-velvet curtain into the dining room, where ornate chandeliers shower guests with opulence. The menu is a collection of upscale old favorites like Grandma’s Meatloaf and fried chicken with white gravy. But since they’re in cattle country, most diners order from the extensive menu of steaks. Next door in a space once shared with the Oklahoma Opry, Rodeo Cinema offers a rotating lineup of classic and independent films, adding a bit of high-culture flair to the area.

Founded in 1926, National Saddlery’s tack shop is the area’s largest stocker of rodeo gear, carrying a full line of bull riding and roughstock equipment any rodeoer—or anyone who wants to go to a rodeo and not look like a city slicker—could ever need. Not far away is the headquarters of the International Professional Rodeo Association.

For those looking for a Westerninspired style change, there’s no shortage of shopping here. In addition to Shorty’s, National Saddlery, and the famous Langston’s, travelers can stop in at Little Joe’s Boots, which is stuffed with cowboy and cowgirl duds and gifts—and features a long church pew where shoppers can sit to try on their boots. In fact, there are so many shops here that no matter what flavor they’re seeking, those engaging in a bit of retail therapy will be sure to find something perfect.

BUT VISITORS, ESPECIALLY those from out of town or out of state, come to experience the West—many in a shopping kind of way. After all, buckaroos—whether they’re roping steers or wrasslin’ spreadsheets—need

Stockyards City is the rare destination district that has no story of decline. Unlike some urban enclaves that were created from the detritus of falling-down or burnt-out warehouses and old storefronts, Stockyards City always has been vibrant, active, filled with people—after all, cattle ranching’s importance to Oklahoma’s culture and economy has only grown every year since statehood, and in this district, it finds its cultural and financial locus. And though now, classic cowboy fashion and iconic Oklahoma foods sidle up to upscale shops, independent films, and high-end restaurants, the area’s flavor remains unchanged. In that way, it’s a microcosm of Oklahoma. Like cowboys themselves, Stockyards City remains true, honest, and essentially itself.

“Keep on rockin’ in the free world.”

Color Guard

A full day of hot dogs, watermelon, and sparklers await, but there is no better way to kick off Independence Day than at Edmond’s annual LIBERTYFEST PARADE. The patriotic procession through downtown actually starts at 9 a.m., but arrive early with a lawn chair to snag a good spot. And don’t forget the fireworks display at 9:30 p.m. July 4. Admission, free. (405) 820-9667. libertyfest.org