The Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City

Welcome back. The Oklahoma City fairgrounds otherwise known as State Fair Park, was packed this weekend with a youth livestock show that was underway. Hundreds and hundreds of stock trailers filled the parking lots around the livestock barns and that’s not all that was going on. There was a huge car show in the new Bennett Event Center and as I walked through the parking lot outside of that building-which was also full- I saw car tags from around the country. As you can imagine there were people everywhere and there were even more events. The state high school basketball playoffs along with a large antique show were up and running and in yet another facility there was a big gun show which was where I was. Friends, people were parking on the grass, across the street and down the block as a steady stream of visitors came to the fairgrounds and I’m happy to report that with all the thousands of folk attending the various events there were no problems.

If you’ve never been to State Fair Park here is a little history about the place. I found that the original fairgrounds were established in 1907 primarily as the site of the annual Oklahoma State Fair. Today’s fair park sits on a 4440 acre property in the western part of Oklahoma City. Many new facilities have been added over the years to attract horse shows, rodeos, concerts and athletic events and now the fairgrounds hosts a wide variety of other events.

I had been hoping to get an interview with the national promotor who was putting on the gun show but he had five other shows going on around the country and he missed the one in OKC. However he confirmed that he plans to attend his big gun show at the Tulsa fairgrounds this weekend and said that we could talk then about his thoughts on firearms.

All in all things went well this weekend and as always when visiting OKC, I made a point of going to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. I usually find something new and exciting every time I’m there and I wasn’t disappointed this time. A new large exhibit of paintings caught my eye along with a special area where seldom seen items from the museum’s storage were displayed. From there I moved on to the John Wayne exhibit which is a particular favorite of mine and then more paintings. I finished up my tour in a long hallway filled with bronze busts. These sculptures depict the people whose leadership and contributions were instrumental in getting the museum started. Among the thirty or so people included in the exhibit is one who most of you have probably heard of. His name was Kenneth S. Adams but he was better known as “Boots” Adams. In just seventeen years he worked his way up from a position as a warehouse clerk to the presidency of a major oil company, Phillips Petroleum. His story is still well known in Bartlesville and hopefully as time goes by it won’t fade away. Check out The Boots Adams Story at the local library and I guarantee you won’t put it down.
Till next time I’ll see ya down the road………….

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