The Tulsa Young Professionals put on the Tulsa StreetCRED-Red Fork Revival in southwest Tulsa over the weekend. Like it attempted with the Pearl District east of downtown a year ago, it was designed to bring renewed interest and economic activity to an often-overlooked area.
The event was spread out over the Route 66 Village, downtown Red Fork, and the Crystal City Shopping Center. Although the effort was multipronged, Route 66 definitely was included as part of the publicity, especially since the Mother Road goes through the heart of the neighborhood.
I found a few things of interest for Route 66 aficionados. At the booth for the Kendall-Whittier neighborhood, it was showing off artwork by Heathyr Chenoweth, especially this painting of the historic Circle Cinema (on the older alignment of Route 66 in Tulsa):
Liz Ingersoll, owner and photographer for Mia Bella Art, showed off her images, much which included a significant number of Route 66 landmarks:
Route 66 Village set up a booth in one of Crystal City’s vacant storefronts. Here, city councilor Jeannie Cue chatted with a visitor interested in the transportation-themed landmark:
A few Route 66 Village photos displayed the Frisco Meteor locomotive:
At the actual Route 66 Village itself, Tulsa Young Professionals set up a temporary museum in a vacant house next door:
The museum contained Route 66 memorabilia and Red Fork history:
In another section of the house, Cliff Lowell showed off his collection of Frisco railroad memorabilia:
Lowell points out a caboose light:
Naturally, the huge Frisco Meteor steam engine display garners photo opportunities:
The historic Red Fork downtown area seemed deserted, mostly because event organizers moved the booths to Crystal City because of the threat of rain.
However, the beautification efforts could be seen even then. The group set up a window display of pieces from now-defunct Frankoma Pottery, which operated on Route 66 near Sapulpa, Okla.:
Another window contained memorabilia of what you might have found at an old five-and-dime store:
I didn’t get photos from the carnival because I had to leave early to catch a concert by this fellow. But this video I shot at the carnival last year gives you a good approximation of what it’s like:
I moved to the edge of Red Fork (Berryhill) 6 years ago and have been a booster ever since, volunteering for Red Fork Main Street events and supporting the few remaining businesses whenever possible. I had great hopes for the TyPro’s Street Cred Red Fork Revival but afraid the threat of bad weather was a real problem for the event. The car club that was going to set up vintage cars to tie into the Route 66 theme cancelled and who could blame them for not risking their lovingly restored cars. Also worry about the weather made Plan B go into effect and the “pop-up” stores and booths that were supposed to line Route 66 on the one block of commercial buildings spared when I-244 cut Red Fork in half were hidden behind the carnival and not at all visible from Southwest Boulevard/Route 66 for anyone driving by. Talking to Mary Jo Luster, the owner of the Red Fork Art Gallery–a business in a nicely restored building in that commercial block–I learned that a couple of rainy weekends in the past month halted planned TYPro workdays and curtailed some of the plans for painting and rejuvenating the area. So, the weather made things difficult for this energetic group of civic-minded young people from beginning to end. Bless their hearts for soldiering on.