Wagoner's Switch District

As an English teacher by day, spring is typically pretty busy for me. However, the end of May I was finally able to find a free weekend to get to the Main Street in Wagoner (once called The Queen of the Prairie), Oklahoma. Like Claremore, Wagoner is a train town and grew up around the depot; as a nod to its history, the Main Street area of Wagoner is quickly becoming known as The Switch District.

Wagoner is an exciting town for many reasons. One, it's historic--it's history and many of it's homes date pre-statehood (living in a house that was built in 1904 myself, I take particular interest in these historic homes), it's a resort town, and it's in the process of revitalizing its Main Street, which also is near and dear to my heart. To aid in its revitalization efforts, Wagoner became a member of the state Main Street program in February of this year.

While it is still in the beginning phases of it's revitalization, Wagoner is still worth a drop in on a Saturday morning and early afternoon. If you're an antique lover, there are a few places that will draw you in. The first stop on the list is Katy Crossing, an antiques and collectibles store owned by Stacy Showman, who also is the director of Wagoner's Main Street program. Her store contains everything from railoroad memorabilia to furniture. One of the aspects I found most engaging, though, is old-fashioned candy counter. In shelves by the register (a regal, antique gold affair itself) there are jars and jars of old fashioned candy that appeal to one's sense of nostalgia as well as one's sweet tooth. Showman's goal is to eventually install an old-fashioned soda fountain to complement the candy shelves and really take her customers back in time.

On down the road from Showman's Katy Crossing is a little store that will catch your eye called Simply Vintage. It is comprised of booths ranging from new items to repurposed items (I especially liked these little purses turned into picture frames) to antiques and collectibles. It's a lovely place to browse and shop and if you get a little tired and need to relax a minute or "wet your whistle" before continuing on your little excursion, order something from Simply Vintage's coffee counter and have a seat at the bistro tables in their front window and watch the world pass by for a moment.

 From there, you can travel just a little bit further up the street to Melinda's Treasures where you can find booths filled with antiques, collectibles and what-nots. Traveling back down Main toward Cherokee, if you turn left at the corner by Katy Crossing, a new little antiques and collectibles store is opening up called The White Elephant. Owner Janice Turney is excited about her little store and I think once it's open antiques and collectibles collectors will be too.

If you're looking for a little gift Wagoner Pharmacy on Main Street has a nice little collection of items ranging from picture frames, sunglasses, and stylish purses to a variety of teas (I couldn't leave without picking up Strawberry Hibiscus tea), and around the corner on Cherokee is Wagoner Flowers and Gifts. In the same way you shouldn't overlook the pharmacy because it says pharmacy, you shouldn't dismiss the flower shop as simply a flower shop. While certainly you can stop in to purchase a surprise bouquet for someone special, the flower shop has a vast variety of gifts to please a wide range of people. They have figurines for your collectors, garden decor for your gardeners, and baby gifts for your friends having babies (or for yourself if you are). Wagoner Flowers and Gifts is one of those stores that I could circle several times and find something new I wanted each time.

 Now with both the pharmacy and the flower shop, you do want to make sure you're there early because they close at noon on Saturday. However, don't be dismayed. You can always shop those stores first and then perhaps have some lunch at the Koffee Kan where I had a delicious chicken apricot panini, or the Boomerang Cafe on Cherokee, and then stop in at the other shops mentioned above. If you want to make a day of your visit to Wagoner, then there is also plenty of history to take in there as well.

On Main Street you will find the Wagoner City Historical Museum, curated by Chris Fultz. All of the items in the museum come from Wagoner residents and represent the city from pre-statehood to well into the 20th century. They have clothing arranged by decade and cases of jewelry, photos, letters, and war memorabilia, as well as antique furniture and equipment. Additionally, if you are a genealogy buff, Fultz has old phone registries at the museum that can help you find your ancestors' homesteads as well as two cemetary registries to help you find your ancestors' burial spots. Of course, if you stop in for a visit and have questions about Wagoner, you won't be disappointed, as Fultz is a true fount of knowledge about the city.

While you're at the museum, pick up a map of the Driving Tour of Wagoner's Historic Buildings and Homes. With fifty-two registered historical sites, you'll have a lovely afternoon familiarizing yourself with the city while taking in some great architecture.

Wagoner is a nice little city, and I doubt you'll be disappointed if you pay it a visit. Of course, one of the things I find exciting about Wagoner is that it is just beginning its revitalization, so there is so much opportunity available there. I can't wait to see what new stores and eateries will pop up next in this great train town.

Collinsville Calling

Collinsville's Main Street has been calling my name for a long time. I've driven down it several times and eyeballed the stores as I drove by with little time to stop and really take a look. Shortly after I had my son, I made the trek there to visit a store they used to have that sold all Thomas the Tank Engine items. I loved it and thought to myself at that point that I needed to get back out to Collinsville to see what they had to offer. But nonetheless, I got busy and that didn't happen. When my daughter was five we went to a birthday party at Parties on Main, a quaint, fun little place to have a party with a variety of options available to fit the needs of the customer. My daughter particularly loved the bathtub full of brightly colored balls and I found it very difficult to drag her out of it. I would have loved to have stayed and browsed the shops that day, but by the end of the party, I had a cranky five year old on my hands so I headed home instead.

So, finally, two years later and after a couple of postponed trips, I found my way westbound on Highway 20 to Collinsville, bound and determined that rain, snow, sleet, or hail, with friends or family or alone, I was going to shop Collinsville. While I may have found myself alone that day, fortunately, it was nice and sunny even if there were a few lingering mounds of snow here and there.

Once I found myself in Collinsville, my first order of business was lunch. I originally had my sight set on El Jalapeno, a delicious little Mexican restaurant whose food my school has catered in on a couple of occasions. But as I entered the downtown area another little place, a bit past El Jalapeno on the opposite side of the road caught my eye: Poppa Dave's. When I pulled up in front of it, there was a sign out front that read "Where Good Friends and Good Food Meet." With a mantra like that, how could I resist. And I'm glad I didn't. Poppa Dave's is a spacious restaurant that cooks up some excellent Gulf food and comfort food and that has a warm air of hospitality that makes you feel like family.

I ordered the gumbo and an appetizer of fried pickles. As I sat enjoying my lunch, it wasn't long before Poppa Dave himself stopped by my table to visit. From him I learned that the delicious bowl of gumbo I was eating was from a 200-year-old recipe and that all of his seafood recipes were his mama's. But Poppa Dave isn't all about just advertising his restaurant. He is a family man who loves to do just what his sign says, bring friends and family together at the table over some good food. He asked about my own family and when he learned I had two children told me I needed to bring them back on Wednesday for their $1 kids menu night. I did him one better, though, I was so impressed with his place and thrilled to see he had frog legs (which my son had been begging me for since he ate some in Hot Springs a couple of years ago) that the following Saturday I brought my family, along with a couple of friends and my husband's cousin, back for dinner. And I have to say that everything that was put on the table that night from the frog legs to the catfish to the gator to the cheddar biscuits was phenomenal.

After a warm, friendly visit with Poppa Dave and after filling my belly, I was ready to take on the Main Street of Collinsville. And I have to say I really like their Main Street. They're different than Claremore in that some of their store fronts are office space and studios, but they also offer some boutiques and antique stores as well as a couple of great gathering places.

My first stop, being the clothes horse that I am, was The Gypsy Rose Boutique (thegypsyroseboutique.com). I was already a little familiar with this women's boutique because I had several friends who have liked her Facebook page and so occasionally I'd see a post with a cute outfit in it. The store did not disappoint. She had a number of items to offer from trendy outfits to cool boots to statement-piece necklaces all in a location with a cool aesthetic. I found a beautiful shirt while I was shopping and have found my mind going back again and again since I left to a plaid jacket that I loved.

 From the Gypsy Rose I made my way to Creme de la Creme Boutique. This boutique featured numerous vendors all with something unique to sell. The store had any number of items women and girls of any age could want. There were booths with beautiful boutique clothes and booths with home decor. One offered supplies and treats for our spoiled four-legged friends. Another had a huge rack cheerleading bows with a range of options for many of the schools in the surrounding areas. There were even delicious looking popcorn treats perfect for a sweet reward for someone special or even as a little snack while shopping.

Not too far down the road from Creme de la Creme was another lovely boutique called Callie's Cache. Callie's offered a wide range of options in clothing in a variety of sizes for a reasonable price. The store was nice and invitingly spread out to allow for an enjoyable experience browsing the racks for clothes.

For budget-minded shoppers, though, on the opposite side of the road was Burd Nest Consignment and Boutique. They offer consignment clothes for women, men, girls, and boys, and everything from sportswear to formals. It looked like a wonderful place to find a gently used prom dress that had only been to one or two proms.

As I made my way out of the Burd Nest, I had time for one last stop and I made my way back across the street to a little store that had caught my eye, Plum Craft Crazy (www.plumcraftcrazy.com). In the front of the shop are pieces of furniture that the owner's husband makes. In the back are several large farm tables that are used for crafting, and along the walls shelves stocked with crafting supplies. The owner, Sharene Smith, offers crafting classes as well as crafting time where people can pay $6 an hour and use her space and her supplies to craft their own creations. I love the concept of her venue and equally love the fact that she is offering a kids crafting camp over springbreak, because I am definitely going to be looking for some fun activities to keep my kids busy that week.

Alack and alas, the afternoons never last forever, but I felt I was able to cover a good portion of Collinsville's Main Street. Perhaps the one thing I didn't get to partake in as much as I would have liked is the food scene. While I love Poppa Dave's and will probably find myself there on many a weekend, I know Collinsville has quite a few restaurants worth visiting. The Silver Dollar has long been a staple of Collinsville, and on more than one occasion I have found myself wanting to try Scoops and Grinds. But since I can't always hit everything in one day, that's a good reason to follow me on Twitter, where I tweet my experiences at Main Street businesses between blogs.

All in all, I enjoyed my afternoon in Collinsville. I look forward to getting back there sooner than later. I think many of you would enjoy it, too. It has plenty to offer from antiques to clothes and jewelry to home decor to party venues to tasty restaurants and cafes. I hope you'll find a day to take it all in yourself.

As usual, before I close, let me take a moment to encourage you to support your local downtown businesses. They are bringing life back to our Main Streets and restoring storefronts that were long forgotten. They're bringing life back to the heart of towns. And, as wonderful as our downtown business owners are, don't forget that there's also another group of people working behind the scenes to revitalize our Main Streets, too; so be sure to support your local Main Street organization as well.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter @TheGirlonMain.

The Shadows of Main Street

Even with this being a fairly new monthly blog, by this point you know how much I love our Main Streets. There is something more than dear--something quintessential--about our Main Streets to our American heritage. They bring back a golden time of community and togetherness. They represent a location where people could come from their neighborhoods or their farms not just to shop but to hear the latest gossip and goings-on of the town. Hence, while I love to shop and this blog is meant to encourage people to support their Main Street businesses, today I want to emphasize that Main Streets represent more than just economic prosperity: they represent quality of life.

Helping to drive and build that quality of life along with that economic prosperity are the shadows of Main Street. I call them shadows because many people within a community may not know that they exist. These shadows are our Main Street organizations, people who serve on a board together to aid in the both the economic growth of our downtown locations and the building of community spirit and quality of life that Main Streets have always embodied. These people volunteer countless hours to ensure that our Main Streets do not die.

While larger cities may have Main Street organizations, these organization are especially vital to our smaller communities where city budgets may be limited in what they can do to develop our downtown areas, and where local governments would be hard-pressed to drum up the volunteers for the kind of events our Main Street organizations put on to bring the residents together in the heart of the community.

When I think about my own community, Claremore, Oklahoma, I would be sad not to have the events that bring out the warm smiles in the townspeople and that bring them into the Main Street shops, and I know my children would be equally so. After all, Claremore offers several to enhance the quality of life downtown.

One of the first events of the year is our St. Patrick's Day Bangers and Mash. While not an all-day event, this lunch event, brings out all ages of people to celebrate the wearing of the green with a lunch of bangers and mash and lively Irish music. The two-hour event culminates in a parade down Main Street.

The people of Claremore love this event so much that I have mingled out there with them in years when the day has been sunny and warm and in years when the day has been cold and blustery--so, blustery, in fact, that it was a wonder the tents stayed up.

Perhaps one of Claremore's most popular events by far, though, is the long-standing Dickens on the Boulevard. Always the Friday and Saturday evenings before Thanksgiving, this event brings people out in droves. And why not? Where else can you have your picture taken with Santa Claus, visit the mysterious upper floors of our downtown buildings, learn a little bit of town history, see a living nativity, witness a shootout, drink some sarsaparilla in a saloon, take a carriage ride to the Belvidere Mansion, and dance the Virginia Reel, all while dressed in Victorian costume?


My children live for Dickens on the Boulevard. They start getting excited about it from the time I attend my first planning meeting for it. By the time the event actually rolls around, they already have their evening mapped out. And they're not the only ones. Every November, I will get phone calls and texts from people confirming the dates for Dickens because their families have attended it every year and they don't want to miss it.

See, it's these types of events that Main Street organizations hold that help to bring the spirit of community to our downtown areas.

But Main Streets are more than that, too. They are also that behind-the-scenes support group for our merchants, because ultimately, without our merchants, there is no downtown. While these events bolster our sense of community, they also bring people into the stores. But Main Street organizations also help to facilitate communication and collaboration among merchants, too. Some even promote events that directly bring money into downtown stores. Claremore, for instance, hosts a cash mob. Every two months, 50 members of the community convene at the Chamber of Commerce building, where our Main Street office is located, draw the name of a downtown store and descend upon it en masse. When the members sign up for cash mob, they agree to participate for a year and to spend at least $20 at each location. It's wonderful. Not only do the stores take in a minimum of $1,000, but the people shopping have a great time as well, browsing the store, sharing their finds with one another, and making great memories.

So, Girl on Main, this is all well and good, but why are you telling us about this? Why aren't you doing a blog about stores on another Main Street? Well, the main reason is that when I moved to Claremore ten years ago, there was precious little on our Main Street, and I have come to realize that had it not been for the hard work and effort of a particular group of people, I would not have been able to write my second blog entry. Certainly, Claremore has wonderful merchants who are starting to take the reigns and create their own draws to the downtown area, but those merchants probably wouldn't be there if it hadn't been for the growth initiated by Claremore Main Street. The same can be said of many communities, especially the small ones.

Sadly, these efforts go unnoticed, or there comes a point where some people feel like the service these organizations offer can be absorbed by other organizations. Perhaps in larger cities with the types of budgets it takes to completely overhaul a downtown district to revitalize it, this is true. But in our smaller communities, our Main Street organizations are vital, and these vital organizations are non-profits, which means they rely upon the financial support of others to do their jobs.

As a supporter and shopper of our downtown businesses, and somebody who does not want to see them wane as they did several decades ago, I thought it right to take a moment to bring this to light, to encourage you not only to support your downtown businesses, but also to support the shadows of Main Street that help to grow the economic development of these communities as well as develop the quality of life downtown. Obviously, attending events helps to support these organization, but so do your donations. Imagine, in the same way that 50 members of the Claremore community can help a local business bring in $1,000 in one night, if members of a community of 3,000 each donated $10 to their local Main Street organization, that organization would be able to add $30,000 to its budget, and think of how that could be invested back into the community.

If your local Main Street organization doesn't have a donation link on their website, you can certainly contact them or send them a check. So if you enjoy your downtown district as much as I do mine, and you want to see those areas continue to thrive and grow, please, show them your support.

Love,
The Girl on Main

 

P.S. You can now officially follow me on Twitter @TheGirlonMain.