United States
Scott Amundson contributes to the Daily Oklahoman and the Journal Record.
NORMAN - The Thunderbird Sailing Club is looking for boaters to help with its 14th annual Catch a Special Thrill (CAST) for Kids event Sept. 26. "We really need volunteers with pontoon boats," said Les Cummings, executive director of the Lake Thunderbird Educational Foundation.
Classen School of Advanced Studies and Wilson Arts Integration Elementary School have gone through many changes over the years. Four generations of the Stueve family have attended Classen and Wilson and witnessed how the schools have evolved. Both schools were founded in 1919.
Amy Goodman accomplished something that many women only dream of doing. She opened up her own business, Signs 2 Celebrate, so she could spend more time at home with her children.
Fairgoers can compete for blue ribbons and other prizes in a variety of creative arts competitions at the Oklahoma State Fair, set for Sept. 17-27. The creative arts competitions will showcase the work of Oklahomans of all ages in these categories: china, ceramics and antiques; cooking; fine arts; crafts and hobbies; junior arts and crafts; needlecraft; and photography.
ARCADIA - A blues festival and two-night rodeo are on tap for Labor Day weekend in Arcadia. The town has been offering the Western Heritage Festival and Rodeo for more than 30 years, said Cathy Ward, event coordinator. The city plans a full weekend of activities that will start with a blues festival in the park Sept.
EDMOND - The Oklahoma Bicycle Society will hold its 41st annual OBS Streak on Sept. 13 starting at Mitch Park, 1501 W Covell Road, regardless of weather conditions. The event features 100-kilometer, 40-mile and 25-mile rides, and the 10-mile Free Family Fun Ride.
MCLOUD - More than 200 residents of McLoud gathered July 4 to dedicate a veterans memorial that was built entirely with donated funds. "It was so exciting for me," said Sherry Nash, owner of the McLoud Tag Agency, who worked to get the memorial built.
NORMAN - Residents can dispose of harmful household chemicals and old electronics, appliances and tires at the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event set for Sept. 12 at the Lloyd Noble Center. The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the southwest parking lot at 2900 S Jenkins Ave.
The Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City Center for Safety and Emergency Preparedness offers four motorcycle safety courses. "Riding a motorcycle is a lifelong learning experience," said Ron Peirce, motorcycle program coordinator. "You have to keep practicing those skills all the time so that, when something happens, you are prepared for it."
RUSH SPRINGS - The 71st annual watermelon festival is underway in Jeff Davis Park and elsewhere in Rush Springs. A carnival opened Thursday and continues through Saturday. The Rush Springs Rodeo also started Thursday, with another performance at 8 p.m. Friday at Rusty Acres Arena. The parade through Rush Springs starts at 5 p.m.
EDMOND - Edmond Park, Central State Park, Spring Creek and Scissortail campgrounds at Arcadia Lake are popular destinations for people who like to camp, swim, fish, boat and watch meteor showers. A new regulation allows park visitors to swim anywhere on the water's edge as long as they stay within 50 feet of the shoreline, said Zach Harris, park gate attendant and park leader.
McLOUD - The annual Blackberry Festival kicks off at 10 a.m. Friday at the McLoud High School Athletic Complex, 12780 W Seikel Blvd. Food vendors will offer such menu items as hamburgers, oysters, Mexican food, chicken, shaved ice and cheesesteak-on-a-stick.
MARLOW - Camp E-Ko-Wah gives Girl Scouts a chance to connect with nature and learn about themselves on 140 acres of land. Girl Scouts have been going to the camp near Marlow for decades. Many activities have stayed the same for generations, but the Girl Scouts of Western Oklahoma camp has added new activities in recent years.
LUTHER - Oklahomans can get a jump on celebrating Independence Day by attending festivities Friday in Luther. The celebration begins with a parade that will start at 10 a.m. at the old middle school and make its way toward the downtown area.
CHOCTAW - Rudy Forrest, owner of Rudy's Fireworks, will offer his annual fireworks display on Sunday in Choctaw. The show will take place in Senior Citizens Park, 14653 NE Dean St. The fireworks show will start at dusk and continue 45 minutes to an hour.
EDMOND - The Help Our People in Emergency (HOPE) Center, 1251 N Broadway, has been aiding Edmond residents for more than three decades. The members of the Edmond Ministerial Alliance founded the center in 1984 as a place where churches could work together, according to Executive Director Chris Sperry.
The Deer Creek School District has come a long way since its founding in 1926. Back then, the entire school district was made up of 13 one-room schoolhouses. The district is located on the outskirts of Edmond and Oklahoma City. Deer Creek is not a town but a community with its central focus on Deer Creek Schools.
The Edmond Community Thanksgiving Dinner serves up a heaping helping of food and fellowship for free every year. Everyone is welcome to attend the dinner, which is held between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. The celebration takes place at the Nigh University Center on the University of Central Oklahoma campus.
The Guthrie-Edmond Regional Airport, 520 Airport Road in Guthrie, is 30 miles from downtown Oklahoma City and easily accessible from Interstate 35. This is the airport of choice for many single-engine planes and large private jets. It also is home to many aviation businesses that do everything from building racing aircraft to patrolling pipelines.
The July 4 Bethany Freedom Festival at Eldon Lyon Park will open with a 10 a.m. parade that starts at Southern Nazarene University. The Freedom Festival also opens at 10 a.m. and will feature carnival rides, inflatables, helicopter and pony rides, a classic car show, live music from the Chris Henson Band and food and other vendors.
Fresh Paint Days is a project of Keep Oklahoma Beautiful that allows groups to volunteer their time to paint buildings in serious need of beautification. Keep Oklahoma Beautiful provides the paint and runs a contest to choose the effort that makes the largest impact in its community.
The Metropolitan Library System is offering a wide variety of activities for patrons of all ages designed to keep people reading and checking out books during the summer. The library system's summer initiatives are the summer reading program, Neighborhood Arts events and activities that go along with this year's national library theme.
Oklahoma City's Parks and Recreation Department will be launching two new summer camps for children between the ages of 6 and 14. Kids can get engaged in the community and have fun in the Recreation Summer Day Camp, while the Sports Summer Day Camp will teach them about various sports.
The Oklahoma Children's Theatre will offer two shows during the summer. The first is "James and the Giant Peach." Young performers will present the show at 10 a.m. and noon June 17-19 and 2 p.m. June 20 -21. "James and the Giant Peach" is based on the classic book by Roald Dahl.
Camp DaKaNi in northwest Oklahoma City will be the site of Camp Fire Heart of Oklahoma summer camps in June and July. Children can discover who they are at camp, said Penn Henthorn, camp director for Camp DaKaNi. "There are experiences you have at camp that no other environment can provide," Henthorn said.
Oklahoma City parents will be able to drop off their children for organized activities in the park starting June 8. The Play in the Park program offers outdoor activities supervised by adults trained in first aid at six city parks. Lunch and snacks are included.
Children ages 7 to 11 can learn how to garden during Junior Master Gardener Day Camps in June. The one-week day camps will be at Will Rogers Gardens, 3400 NW 36.
Lyric Theatre's Thelma Gaylord Academy will offer a variety of musical theater camps for children this summer. "We have classes and workshops and camps for students 5 to 18," said Bailey Dunning, academy administrator of the Thelma Gaylord Academy.
Boy Scout Troop 117 will celebrate a special event Feb. 8 - the 75th anniversary of the troop's charter at Putnam City United Methodist Church. "It's a very rare thing to be sponsored by one organization for 75 years," said Michael Yates, marketing and development director for the Last Frontier Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
In January, Jim Travers, New Haven, Conn.'s then-director of traffic and parking, debuted a new type of card -- a card that residents can use to pay for shopping, dining and parking in the city.
Many people are unaware they can take recyclable materials such as paper, Styrofoam and aluminum to Goodwill as a way to help fund the agency's charitable works. "We'll take anything that's donated at any of our donation centers, except for small engine items, due to the hazardous nature of the oil and gas," said Bob Carman, director of recycling and logistics for Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma.
The school bus is supposed to be a safe way to transport children between home and school, but these shuttles are facing increasing threats from negligent drivers. One of the most serious threats facing students that ride the bus are drivers who don't stop when the bus is loading or unloading at a particular location.
The Oklahoma City Symphonic Band will present a free concert on Veterans Day to honor veterans and current members of the armed forces. "I just hope that everybody comes out and takes advantage of hearing a very good band," said Larry Taylor, a band member and U.S.
Published in the Edmond Living Guide supplement.
Pauline Cable brought an Asian bowl she received from her father's cousin. She thinks he found it when stationed abroad during World War II. Cable was among about 30 people who went to the Mustang Historical Society Museum recently to have Matt McNeil identify or appraise their treasures.
The Biosciences and Medicine Academy at Francis Tuttle Technology Center prepares high school students for high-end medical careers. The academy was established as part of Project Lead the Way and has become one of the national program's top pilot schools.
This was published in the Edmond Living Guide supplement.
Transparency and user-friendliness topped the list of priorities for Costa Mesa's redesigned website.
This was published in the Edmond Living Guide supplement.
Eastern Oklahoma County communities have a number of holiday events planned. Luther invites people to Shop Local in December from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Luther Community Center. Merchants from across the state will be there to help residents finish their Christmas shopping. The event and parking are free.
The Moore-Lindsay House, 508 N Peters, offers a glimpse at what life in Norman was like before Oklahoma was a state. The house was built in 1895 as a residence for William and Agnes Moore. William Moore was a real estate investor from Missouri, and his family arrived in Norman in 1890.
Some in law enforcement see legislation that allows police to look through cellphones without warrants as helpful in maximizing investigations, while others argue there are more pressing issues to attend to post-collision.
State Fair Park will host three horse shows in July and August. Hunters, jumpers The Greater Oklahoma Hunter Jumper Horse Show is set for July 23-27, with a preview from July 16-20. The U.S. Equestrian Federation rated this show AA, which is its highest rating.
Diamond Thomas, 17, a junior at Emerson Alternative School, was all smiles as she received a prom dress from Ashleigh Gibson, who runs the Good Guides program for Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma. "Since it's so shiny, I won't have to worry about finding accessories," Thomas said.
The Fine Arts Institute of Edmond will host fundraising events to help pay for classes offered to children and adults who want to get better at drawing, painting, performing on stage and sculpting.
Oklahoma is fourth in the nation for food insecurity, but the Regional Food Bank and the Needs Foundation are helping to meet those needs. Keeping Oklahomans fed is a big job, said Angie Gaines, marketing director for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. "We contributed about 47.9 million pounds of food out of our facility last year."
An online portal is helping drivers over age 40 renew their driver's licenses electronically.
The Economic Development Corp. is working its way through more than 150 applications, giving out fiber connections on a first come, first serve basis.
NORMAN - The Oklahoma natural history museum possesses a long history of its own. It was founded by the territorial legislature in 1899, but today's state-of-the-art Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History building on Chautauqua Avenue was not completed until 2000. "The purpose of the... Oklahoman subscribers have access to this article.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians gets more accomplished with face-to-face contact, enabled by video conferencing.
The training program satisfies the federal requirement for annual personally identifiable information training.
YUKON - Parks and Recreation Director Jan Scott organizes many events, but her favorites are the summertime Concerts in the Park held on Thursdays in Chisholm Trail Park. "They're laid... Oklahoman subscribers have access to this article. Unlock it below. What is this? Learn more.
A partnership that leverages LexisNexis' technology reconciled tax records, recovering nearly $3 million in revenue.
Within 24 hours of the tornado that devastated Moore, Okla., last month, the OKStrong website went live to serve as a central point for official communications and relief efforts.
Las Vegas is simplifying development services processes using technology, saving time and money for customers and the city.
A preliminary study from North Carolina State University found that older programmers may know more about emergent technology than their younger counterparts.
The Adventure of Representation John Fisher, founder and principal attorney of Fisher Rushmer, seemed destined to be a great trial lawyer. He was a third-generation attorney. His great-grandfather on his father's side actually rode the Pony Express and managed the stage coach line between St.