Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
Speaker 1: It is time now for our community connection on K one,
Speaker 1: the one you trust, and from the chamber we have Sherry. Well,
Speaker 1: then Christmas is in the air.
Speaker 2: It is in the air.
Speaker 3: It's getting close, closer than ever it is.
Speaker 2: We're super excited. Our opening night is this Saturday, so
Speaker 2: our lights On celebration will be like I said, this Saturday,
Speaker 2: starting at five thirty down at the Chamber depots Second
Speaker 2: and Keeler, and we have all sorts of things planned
Speaker 2: for the evening. Like I said, it starts about five thirty.
Speaker 2: We have some food trucks there. We have free pictures
Speaker 2: with Santa. You can also take your own pictures with
Speaker 2: Santa and Missus Claus. We have the top train that
Speaker 2: kids can ride and parents actually fit in the train too,
Speaker 2: and that's free. We have a living Nativity with live animals,
Speaker 2: so lots of fun there and oh gosh, what else,
Speaker 2: movies in the park. There's just all sorts of things happening.
Speaker 2: The fun part is at six o'clock. Well before that,
Speaker 2: the high school jazz choir is going to be performing,
Speaker 2: so we have live entertainment. And then at six o'clock,
Speaker 2: we will do the countdown and the big giant Christmas
Speaker 2: Tree twenty eight fit Christmas tree, and the depot park
Speaker 2: and the ice rink and everything with the flip of
Speaker 2: a switch will magically all come and be lit up.
Speaker 2: And then we start for the season with Christmas in
Speaker 2: the vills. It's on, it's on, and it's going to go.
Speaker 2: It's gonna run through January the fifth.
Speaker 3: So wow, do we have fireworks this year?
Speaker 2: We should. We've had rain, so we should be good.
Speaker 1: So you know, that always takes me by surprise because
Speaker 1: I never equate fireworks with Christmas until I moved to Bartlesfell,
Speaker 1: and then every year it still takes me by surprise.
Speaker 1: This year, I'm gonna pretend like I know what's going on.
Speaker 2: This time you let a pat out of the bag.
Speaker 2: But yeah, that's when the lights come on and then
Speaker 2: there's fireworks over the depot. It makes for great photo ops,
Speaker 2: actually a beautiful picture. But and then, like I said,
Speaker 2: it's just so much fun. It's like a giant community party.
Speaker 2: We have a downtown merchant crawl. So even if you
Speaker 2: don't ice skate, come down to ice skate. There's so
Speaker 2: many other things that you can take advantage of. We
Speaker 2: have our horse drawn carriage. He'll be running too that
Speaker 2: evening in fact, and well they're both gorgeous. He's got
Speaker 2: another one that's just absolutely beautiful this year, and so
Speaker 2: we'll have our horse drawn carriage rides going. We will
Speaker 2: have a downtown merchant crawl with fun prizes with some
Speaker 2: there's some really fun new stores downtown that people will
Speaker 2: be able to discover. New bookstore Marygolds and Unhinged Lifestyle
Speaker 2: Boutique of course, Moxie and several others. But it's it's
Speaker 2: there's just lots of things to do. So even like
Speaker 2: I said, even if you don't ice skate, come down.
Speaker 2: It's just like a giant community party kicking off the
Speaker 2: holiday season.
Speaker 3: It is you know, it was the ice skating rink.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 1: You put it all together that your whole area there
Speaker 1: is lit up with lights. It's very festive. The depot
Speaker 1: is the depot and it really just looks great. You
Speaker 1: even put lights on the train and I don't know
Speaker 1: how he does that, but they do a spectacular job.
Speaker 3: But come dusk it looks like a Norman Rock welpap
Speaker 3: it does.
Speaker 2: And that's what we were after that Hallmark movie. So well,
Speaker 2: it's the guy that the Lances Landscaping is one that
Speaker 2: does our lighting and the guy that works with him,
Speaker 2: Kurt Bashford, has done our lights for the last well
Speaker 2: every season and he's the one that lights the train
Speaker 2: up and figured out how to do all that and
Speaker 2: it does.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 2: He puts us blue lights under there and it kind
Speaker 2: of glows. And so we have, like I said, some
Speaker 2: great photo op stops for people to just a lot
Speaker 2: of people come out and do pictures for Christmas there.
Speaker 2: So just this it's a lot of work has gone
Speaker 2: into it to get to this point, to get us
Speaker 2: ready for opening. So many people have helped, like different aspects,
Speaker 2: setting up the village, moving the skate hut from one
Speaker 2: end of the parking lot to the others. There's just
Speaker 2: so many little pieces that go together to get it
Speaker 2: all set up and ready to go. But we've been
Speaker 2: working hard last week and this week even and we
Speaker 2: will be ready for Saturday night and we are opening.
Speaker 2: This is earlier. Some people may be going, well wait, wait, wait,
Speaker 2: that's Thanksgiving. We are opening the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which
Speaker 2: normally it's it's the week after but the way the
Speaker 2: calendar fell, it's like we're going to lose a whole week.
Speaker 2: So we're going to open, like I said, the Saturday
Speaker 2: after Thanksgiving, that's when the Lights On party and opening
Speaker 2: night is. And then those first three weeks Monday through Thursday,
Speaker 2: we because kids are in school. We just discovered after
Speaker 2: that first year it wasn't that busy, and so what
Speaker 2: we did is we reserved those nights for private parties
Speaker 2: and we booked every there's two parties per night, and
Speaker 2: we have every party booked. We do have one opening
Speaker 2: on next Wednesday, second party, but other than that, we
Speaker 2: booked all our private parties. And then once kids are
Speaker 2: out of school on the twentieth, it's opened every day
Speaker 2: one to nine, but those first three weekends were opened
Speaker 2: Friday and Saturday from six to nine or Friday, I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: six to night, and Saturday and Sunday one to nine.
Speaker 2: And one thing that we started doing a couple of
Speaker 2: years ago that's been very popular is family skate. We
Speaker 2: reserve the rink on Fridays from four to six once
Speaker 2: kids are out of school, so from four to six
Speaker 2: it's reserved for kids twelve and under. Parent needs to
Speaker 2: be regarding you know, someday he had to drop them
Speaker 2: off and you don't have to skate, but they you know,
Speaker 2: need to.
Speaker 3: Be there with your kid.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's nice because the rink's not near as
Speaker 2: crowded and the kids can get out there and you know,
Speaker 2: they think they're going to go out there and skate
Speaker 2: like Elsa Anna, and it's not gonna done happen. So
Speaker 2: it gives them time to kind of to get the
Speaker 2: feel of it and not be crowded. And it's just
Speaker 2: it's a lot, it's just a lot calmer time.
Speaker 3: And it's a no fourteen year old boys and.
Speaker 2: No fourteen year old boys, that's right. So anyhow, so
Speaker 2: that's for kids twelve me and under and it's every
Speaker 2: for the first three Fridays from four to six is
Speaker 2: family skate times, So take advantage of that with your kiddos.
Speaker 2: It's it's really a special time.
Speaker 3: So it truly is.
Speaker 1: Now you have a special website that people can go
Speaker 1: to for Christmas in the bill to find out what's
Speaker 1: going on for the different dates.
Speaker 3: And different times.
Speaker 2: Yes, definitely Bartlesville Christmas dot com. Please visit that. It
Speaker 2: gives our Santa schedule he's there Friday, Saturdays and Sundays.
Speaker 2: But it gives the hours. I mean, he doesn't just
Speaker 2: live there. And then our carriage ride schedule when he'll
Speaker 2: be there, our open hours schedule in case you know
Speaker 2: you're like, when did she say we were open? It's
Speaker 2: every All the information is on there, So Bartlesville Christmas
Speaker 2: dot Com gives you all the information that you could
Speaker 2: possibly need.
Speaker 1: So we got some great sponsors too, and I know
Speaker 1: we can't get to all of them, but my goodness sakes,
Speaker 1: but wasn't for our community partners, you know, where would
Speaker 1: be be?
Speaker 2: That is so true. Thank you for bringing that up,
Speaker 2: because we could not do this without our sponsors. I mean,
Speaker 2: I know so many events in town say the same thing,
Speaker 2: but truly, people don't realize how much is involved in
Speaker 2: bringing in an ice drink and and just the expense
Speaker 2: of everything. And and it's a risk because your weather
Speaker 2: determined whether it's too hot or too cold. It can't
Speaker 2: really be too coold, but I mean if it's just
Speaker 2: absolutely you know below, we did.
Speaker 3: Have one day that it was yeah, way too cool.
Speaker 2: They usually were fighting too warm of weather. And thank
Speaker 2: you to surper they leave us their equipment and we
Speaker 2: can stay on top of it, and it's rare that
Speaker 2: we have to close for that, but we are weather
Speaker 2: dependent and so it's it's our spot. Answers truly, truly
Speaker 2: make it happen. And I don't even want to start
Speaker 2: to mention all of them because I forget, but wonderful
Speaker 2: companies in our community who support so many things in
Speaker 2: our community, not just us, not this just as festival,
Speaker 2: but you know, we have a few that specifically support ours,
Speaker 2: but just we have a wonderful giving community that is
Speaker 2: for sure, and they make things like this happen. So
Speaker 2: we cannot do this without them, because like I said,
Speaker 2: people do not know how much goes into bringing an
Speaker 2: ice rink. It is. There's a lot to it.
Speaker 1: So it just doesn't magically appear, turn on a switch
Speaker 1: and it's gone and going.
Speaker 3: That doesn't happen. There's a lot of pre work.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of pre work, and I mean there's
Speaker 2: a lot. There's coils underneath that eye so that people
Speaker 2: are like, how do you keep that frozen? And there's
Speaker 2: coils that are hooked up to this giant, giant chilo
Speaker 2: that's on a semi bed trailer behind the village, which
Speaker 2: is why we did that the village at the end
Speaker 2: to kind of you know, so you're not looking at
Speaker 2: ugly things and give it that atmosphere. But and it's
Speaker 2: it's plug into the chiller and it's it's just it's
Speaker 2: a process. So it's a lot of fun though we
Speaker 2: enjoy it, and it's it's it always goes so fast
Speaker 2: for us. And like I said, this year will be
Speaker 2: up in through January fifth, so lots of time take advantage, you.
Speaker 1: Know, about five or six, about five years ago, yes,
Speaker 1: it was. I remember calling down to the chamber because
Speaker 1: I had a question for you, and it was around
Speaker 1: this time of year, and and somebody says, well, Sharry
Speaker 1: will be with you in a little bit. But we've
Speaker 1: got like this big Christmas tree out in the front yard.
Speaker 1: I'm going, what's this? And then that's when I was
Speaker 1: introduced to Christmas in the Yeah, you know, it was
Speaker 1: it was new to me. But moving to Oklahoma, my
Speaker 1: goodness sake, because I never would imagined that we would
Speaker 1: have something so nice as this in our town. And
Speaker 1: it's really something to celebrate and we draw people in.
Speaker 2: From all over that and you know, and that thank
Speaker 2: you again for bringing that up. That is one of
Speaker 2: the reasons we did it. We want to keep our
Speaker 2: folks here obviously, but we wanted to bring people in
Speaker 2: and last year we had a forty something percent I
Speaker 2: should have looked by part came, but we had a
Speaker 2: huge increase are out of town attendees, and that's what
Speaker 2: we're after because while they're here, they for sure are
Speaker 2: going to stop and eat, and hopefully they're shopping while
Speaker 2: they're here too because they've driven in and why you know,
Speaker 2: why not shop while you're here. And that's what we want.
Speaker 2: We want to add to that sales tax space, and
Speaker 2: that's one of the main reasons we did it because
Speaker 2: we just wanted to showcase our downtown. So many people,
Speaker 2: you think, because we work down here and we take
Speaker 2: so for granted. The beauty of our especially at Christmas.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just beautiful thanks to Conaco. Phillips just
Speaker 2: knocks out the park with all their decorations down there
Speaker 2: and just how they keep that property. But it just
Speaker 2: is beautiful. We just wanted to showcase our downtown. So
Speaker 2: many people live here, but they never come downtown because
Speaker 2: they don't work here. And so we hope this drives
Speaker 2: them downtown and they realize just how special a place
Speaker 2: it really is down here.
Speaker 3: You know, I did a lot of driving this weekend.
Speaker 1: I went through a lot of small towns or towns
Speaker 1: are size for that matter. And when I take a
Speaker 1: look at ours, buildings are open. We've got businesses that
Speaker 1: are not only just surviving, they're thriving here, right, But
Speaker 1: that's not the same everywhere.
Speaker 2: We'll go here exactly right, and you don't see a
Speaker 2: lot of boarded up buildings. You don't see a lot
Speaker 2: of dilapidated buildings, you don't see a lot of trash.
Speaker 2: We had somebody to come into the chamber the other
Speaker 2: day and they're like, your town is just so pretty.
Speaker 2: There's just no trash. And I mean I'm going to
Speaker 2: say there's never any trash anywhere, but I mean they
Speaker 2: commented on how clean it was downtown, and so that,
Speaker 2: you know, you just it just makes you proud, and
Speaker 2: you just you forget, because you know, we see it
Speaker 2: every day we work down here. You just kind of
Speaker 2: take it, you know, take it for granted. But it's
Speaker 2: just a beautiful, especially like I said at Christmas, it's
Speaker 2: just beautiful down here. There's nothing like taking a horse
Speaker 2: drawn carriage ride. The ride they go is very, very pretty,
Speaker 2: and we really appreciate the businesses you decorate and step
Speaker 2: it up for the holidays and just make the whole
Speaker 2: atmosphere magical downtown.
Speaker 3: So all right, so Saturday, it is Saturday.
Speaker 1: It is.
Speaker 2: We hope to see you there five thirties when things
Speaker 2: start kicking off. But the lighting is at six pm,
Speaker 2: so there's plenty of free parking all over downtown. It's
Speaker 2: a Saturday night after Thanksgiving. You should be full of
Speaker 2: turkey from Thursday. You've black shopped, Friday. On Friday and
Speaker 2: Saturday you're bored. So come on out to Christmas in
Speaker 2: Theville opening nights.
Speaker 1: All right, the Chamber, This is Sherry we Line, Tom Davis,
Speaker 1: thank you very much for being on Community Connect.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Tom,