This is a great idea!




Train may be tie that binds tourist areas

By Steve Lackmeyer and Bryan Dean
The Oklahoman



A train whistle might be just what is needed to combine the draw of Oklahoma City’s two most popular tourist destinations.

The Oklahoma City Zoo, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Omniplex, Remington Park and other attractions at Interstate 44 and Martin Luther King Avenue boast of being the city’s original entertainment district - an area named the “Adventure District” a few years ago.

The area draws 2.5 million visitors a year - a number that Adventure District association coordinator Summer Johnson thinks will grow with the recent opening of a casino at Remington Park.

A few miles southwest of the Adventure District is the much newer, but more well-known Bricktown, which draws about 10 million visitors a year.

Efforts by the Oklahoma Centennial Commission to establish an excursion train between the two destinations has leaders of both districts dreaming up a partnership that could make the city a powerful draw for tourists and conventions.

“It connects the dots with all the attractions,” said Frank Sims, director of the Bricktown Association. “For people attending conventions downtown, it will give them an opportunity to connect to the Western Heritage Museum, Omniplex and zoo ... which I think is huge.”

Sims said he is also excited about the potential of giving guests at downtown hotels easy access to Oklahoma City’s only casino at Remington Park.

“I think there are some real opportunities here,” Sims said.

Johnson agrees.

She said her association helped sponsor summer-time Oklahoma Spirit trolley service between Bricktown and the Adventure District in 2004 and previous years. She said the association was happy with the ridership, but the service was stopped in 2005 because of budget cuts at MetroTransit.

The association also stocks Adventure District brochures at most of the downtown tourist attractions.

“We feel that Bricktown is such a wonderful tourism neighbor to have,” Johnson said. “And to have a train between the top two tourist destinations would be such a unique attraction.”

Ward 7 Councilwoman Willa Johnson, who represents northeast Oklahoma City, thinks a train link could improve struggling neighborhoods between the two districts.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do between the Bricktown area and that area behind the zoo,” Johnson said. “There is some cleanup stuff that needs to happen over there.”

If the train service is to work long-term, Johnson said, some of the area will need to be cleaned up. But she thinks the effort will be worthwhile.

“Whenever there is a thoroughfare of any kind, it opens the door for economic development,” Johnson said. “It happens along arterial streets. It happens along rivers. Hopefully, it will happen along that trail.”