Clearly Oklahoma City

If you’re looking for a place to go for some fun, check out Celebration Station in Oklahoma City.  One of five Celebration Stations throughout the US (the others are in Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Texas), Oklahoma City’s Celebration Station features go carts, bumper boats, miniature golf, an arcade, and more. 

The arcade includes over 100 different video games and other gamers, including Dance Dance Revolution, air hockey, pool tables, and more.  Winning games nets you tickets that can be exchanged for prizes.  Also in this large building (the main building at Celebration Station) is the restaurant.  You can get some incredibly tasty pizza here as well a hot dogs, nachos, and ice cream for dessert.  The prices here aren’t that much more expensive than places like Pizza Hut. 

The Lyric Theatre is one of the most well-known theatres in the state of Oklahoma as far as musical theater goes, and they always put on a sensational summer program.  This year, they have three exciting musicals lined up for our entertainment. 

The first musical is Swing!  Swing! features music of the 1940s era and has over 30 different dance numbers.  Attendees will recognize many of the most well-known swing era pieces in this high-energy production.  Swing! runs July 8 through July 12.

Yesterday, the Romans invaded Oklahoma City!  Well, some of their art did, anyway.  The Oklahoma City Museum of Art is the last stop on the tour of Roman art from the Louvre, that huge, famous museum of art in Paris.  This is one of the largest touring exhibits to visit the museum—it will take up the entire special exhibition gallery and the eight second floor galleries!  The Roman art will be in Oklahoma City for sixteen weeks, ending on October 12. 

Looking for a new restaurant to try out when you’re in Oklahoma City?  Well, there’s a brand new restaurant opening in the Gold Dome at Classen and 23^rd.  The Gold Dome, if you’ve never seen it, is exactly what it sounds like: a huge golden dome.  Several years ago, the owners of the dome decided to demolish it, but after some major objections from Oklahomans, the dome was declared a historic landmark.  Today, many different businesses have opened inside the dome, the newest of which is the Prohibition Room restaurant.  This new eating establishment will open on June 21^st with live entertainment and more.

Looking for some excitement in Oklahoma City this June?  Here are some of the upcoming events for the month.

June 11 to 15 – deadCENTER Film Festival.

June 11, 18, and 25 – Downtown Farmers’ Market at Couch Park.

June 12 to 28 – Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park presents “Much Ado About Nothing” at the Myriad Gardens Water Stage.

June 13 to 16 – Oklahoma City RedHawks verses the New Orleans Zephyrs at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.

June 14 – Land Run Day at the Oklahoma History Center.

Looking to catch a movie while you’re in Oklahoma City?  There are a number of theaters you can go to, but the largest (and, in my opinion, nicest) are Harkins, Dickenson Penn Square 10, AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, and Cinemark TinselTown.

Harkins 

Harkins is the newest theater in Oklahoma City.  It’s one of the centerpieces of Bricktown, the revamped downtown area of Oklahoma City.  The theater has sixteen different screens, including the Cine Capri.  The Cine Capri is the largest movie screen in Oklahoma City, and if you really want to feel like you’re in the middle of the action, this is the theater for you.  The seats are incredibly comfortable, and all theaters have stadium seating, so you won’t be trying to look around anyone’s head.

“Here there be pirates!” That’s the theme of the 2008 Soonercon, a convention of sci-fi, fantasy, and gaming fans. The convention focuses more on authors, artists, and general fandom than it does on big name television and movie stars, and it features a number of events that other conventions don’t. This year’s Soonercon is June 6, 7, and 8 at the Biltmore Hotel in Oklahoma City.

This year’s guest of honor is fantasy author John Ringo. He will be joined by artist guest of honor Tom Kidd, Toastmaster Selina Rosen, and special guests Gary FriedRich, Count Gregor, and Larry Nemecek. In addition these headline guests, many other authors and artists will be attending Soonercon. I’m especially looking forward to meeting Julie Kenner, one of my favorite authors.

Oklahoma has many interesting types of art.  In fact, the Oklahoma City art community has exploded in recent years, but while these new art exhibits and projects have been getting a lot of attention, the older exhibits shouldn’t be ignored.  One of those exhibits is Fiberworks, an interesting fiber arts exhibit that will celebrate its 30^th anniversary this year.  The exhibit opens on June 6 at the Individual Artists of Oklahoma (IAO) gallery located at 811 N. Broadway.

May is upon us here in OKC, and here is a brief look at some of the upcoming events.

May 10 – Pangea Day - Oklahoma City Museum of Art

May 10 – Canterbury Academy Spring Concert – Petree Hall, Oklahoma City University

May 11 – Mother’s Day in Downtown OKC – OKC National Memorial, Myriad Gardens, Museum of Art, etc.

May 16 and 17 – Rainbow Around the Sun Staged Reading – Lyric’s Plaza Theatre

May 17 – Yard Dawgz vs. Iowa Barnstormers – Ford Center

May 19 – An American Portrait – Canterbury Choral Society, Civic Center Music Hall

If you’re a science fiction fan in Oklahoma, you won’t find very many events to go to.  For whatever reason, the number of sci-fi conventions sharply dropped off about five years ago.  There used to be five or six a year, and now, there’s really only one: Trek Expo.  The Expo started out in Oklahoma City, then moved to Tulsa.  While it’s not strictly an OKC event any longer, I thought I’d post about it since it’s a huge Oklahoma event for fans of science fiction and fantasy.  Plus, Tulsa isn’t that far from OKC, and if you’re here visiting, it makes a nice little side trip.