Rewriting the West Side Story

The Down on Main Street festival.

On Saturday, August 8, RedFork Main Street of southwest Tulsa is hosting its first signature event – the Down on Main Street festival. This event will celebrate the history and community of southwest Tulsa. Down on Main Street will feature live music, including performances by Jay Falkner of South 40 and Travis Kidd, a farmers market (with a west-side charm), Global Gardens’ Kids’ Zone (with inflatables), an art show (featuring local artists), a pie contest with cash prizes (making, not eating) and a Blue Plate Special from Ollie’s Station Restaurant. The event is free to attend – all proceeds benefit RedFork Main Street.

RedFork Main Street is a volunteer-driven, not-for-profit organization created to celebrate the rich history of southwest Tulsa, while helping to revitalize the area. “RedFork Main Street has a four-point process: economic restructuring, design, promotion, and organization,” says Executive Director Katy Davis. In 2007, RedFork Main Street became a member of the National Trust Main Street Center, designed to combine economic development on a community level with the preservation of historically significant buildings. There are over 1,500 Main Street programs across the country.

“This is the first large festival we’ve done,” says Davis. “We’re very excited. It will help build community awareness and celebrate the history of the area.”

The community of RedFork is located on historic Route 66. In 1901, the first oil well in Tulsa County was completed in the town of RedFork, which became part of the city of Tulsa in the 1920s. Over the years, the area seems to have become one of Tulsa’s best-kept secrets. “RedFork was really split off from the rest of Tulsa in the 1960s, when Interstate 244 was built,” says Davis. “So we still have a small-town feel in the midst of a larger city. RedFork has a little bit of everything, from refineries to Oklahoma State’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, to the RedFork Art Gallery, to the many beautiful historical homes. And Goodwill does so much over here too.”

“The RedFork community is great,” says Shanna Gray, co-chair of the Down on Main Street event, along with Grant Brown. “We’re close to downtown, we have great highway access, and this is a great place to start a business.”

“I grew up over here,” says Davis. “We shopped over here, we did business over here. This is a great area, and it’s worthy of having more going on in it than there is right now. With events like Down on Main Street, we’re rewriting the west side story. We’re a family-based community, and this is a grassroots family event.”

Down on Main Street is Saturday, August 8 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the 4000 block of Southwest Boulevard (in front of Ollie’s Station Restaurant). The event is free. For more information, visit RedFork Main Street on the web at www.redforkmainstreet.org. 

For more information, contact

(918) 445-4457

www.redforkmainstreet.org