The OKPOP museum is scheduled to open in Tulsa sometime in late 2021 and last week the Oklahoma History Society had their ceremonial groundbreaking. I was able to be there along with other press, various dignitaries and a collection of fellow Oklahoma cultural enthusiasts.
The windy day included speakers like Governor Stitt (who, upon mispronouncing Bob Wills' name, was promptly corrected by many in the crowd), Lt. Governor Pinnell, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and one of the Hanson brothers (you have a 1 in 3 chance of guessing right).
After the surprisingly large number of speakers, the dais of dignitaries, construction company executives, historians, and one pop star (you guess yet?) wore their Golden Driller helmets and brandished their guitar shaped shovels (both nice touches, I thought) and gathered around the ceremonial dirt for the ceremonial groundbreaking.
They were joined by family members of Oklahoma honorees like Archie Goodwin's son and Roy Clark's widow and, to the tune of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma," they proceeded to...
...move some dirt around...I guess? It was all ceremonial, as most groundbreakings are these days, so no actual digging was required. But this was the first groundbreaking I had ever been to so I was into it and glad to be there. Now all we have to do is wait for the building to be built and maybe I can get some sweet ribbon cutting footage!
