Oklahoma Walk of Fame- revisited
mranderson and I have kind of been working behind the scenes discussing the Oklahoma Walk of Fame that was discussed on this forum several weeks ago. downtownguy had encouraged us to try to come up with a project to impact Bricktown that we as a group could work on. After much though, many of us felt an Oklahoma Walk of Fame along the canal in Lower Bricktown would probably be the most feasible project, especially since many of the costs would be payed for by the honoree. And of course, the Bricktown Association could manage and maintain the project, as they do the rest of Bricktown.
At this point, my question is....should we use stars like they do in Hollywood, or come up with some other symbol?
Also, at some point, we may have to get an electronic petition floating around the site. We'll get to that at a later date. Finally, in the end, we may want to consider forming a group, kind of like we did with OCART many years ago. This group could be members from this forum who would be willing to take a leadership role in a group to present our ideas to the Bricktown Association, city council, Jim Brewer, Randy Hogan, etc. As many of you know, one person isn't going to make that big of an impact. The more people we have involved in such a project, the greater the chance we have of this becoming a reality. Numbers speak!
This is probably a more feasible project than others we've discussed. Attracting a restaurant or other venue would lay more in the hands of the private corporation. Building a space needle type development would be incredibly expensive. This project wouldn't cost the Bricktown Association or us anything. The honorees would pay for the marble symbol layed in concrete! Just like in Hollywood.
As time goes on, I'll be asking for your support in coordinating efforts to try to get this off the ground.
Just for kicks, here's an email I recently sent to Mick Cornett, mayor of our great city. When I receive a reply, I'll let you know.
If you have any suggestions or comments on the Oklahoma Walk of Fame inLower Bricktown Project please let us know.
Oh I forgot...we may even consider getting the Centennial Commission and Blake Wade involved in this...they've been extremely involved with other Centennial Projects on the Bricktown Canal, most notably, the Land Run monument, and the Centennial Fountain. We'd of course start locally with the Bricktown Association and Jim Brewer though, and of course the Oklahoma City City Council.
"Hi Mick,
This idea has been floating around on OKC Talk for quite some time now. We've been considering presenting this idea to the Bricktown Association, Jim Brewer, and Randy Hogan, and maybe later the council, but we're just discussing the idea right now. Anyways, we've taken note of other walks of fame, like those in St. Louis and of course Hollywood. We have no local Walk of Fame anywhere in the state of Oklahoma. With Toby Keith's Roadhouse and the Harkin's Theater in close proximity, and the amphitheater directly below the Sonic Building, the sidewalks along the canal in lower Bricktown would be prime for such a project as the "Oklahoma Walk of Fame." In addition, the area is surrounded by concrete walls.....information about some of the local stars could be posted on the concrete walls. Right now, this area is mostly gray concrete.....an Oklahoma Walk of Fame could really brighten up this area and give Bricktown another tourist attraction. Marble stars (or some other symbol of recognition) could be placed on the dull concrete walks, spaced appropriately.
You may ask, who would pay for such a project? Well, Hollywood requires the honoree to pay the installation costs. We could follow their policy. We could also have a scholorship program for some indictees. Maybe a corporation like Sonic (they're the closest to the impact zone) could pitch in money for scholarships.
Who would receive stars? Well, a few (maybe 5) could be issued every year, but mostly just famous stars from Oklahoma....like Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, Vince Gill, Jim Thorpe, Billy Sims, Barry Switzer, Shannon Miller, etc.
What if we run out of space in Lower Bricktown? Well, we have a whole mile of canal to work with.....actually 2 miles, since walkways are on both sides.
Who would maintain this? The Bricktown Association could manage this. Part of the installation costs payed by the honoree could be kept for maintenance. If we used marble stars they'd last forever.
This is just an idea we're still discussing at the moment.
Let me know what you think, and whether you think it would fit in.
- Patrick, Moderator, www.okctalk.com"
Originally Posted by okrednk
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