Jeff Kaley
WAURIKA — Downtown Waurika will have some new splashes of color along Main Street, when a project to renovate plant boxes is complete.
At present, those boxes contain yaupon trees, but during a meeting of the Waurika Chamber of Commerce, President Brad School said flowers will soon replace some of the trees.
“There are eight concrete flower pots that we’re going to change in the next three weeks,” he noted. “We’ll start at the corner of Broadway and D and take out the trees, and then put flowers in those boxes.
“It will be a way of adding more color to Main Street.”
Discussing other projects during the meeting at the Waurika Senior Citizen’s Center, Scott said a full slate of 12 ranches have entered the 2009 Waurika Chamber of Commerce Ranch Rodeo, which is scheduled for July 10-11.
“We’re collecting money from advertisers now,” he said, “and the (Waurika) fire department will be running the concession stand again.
“I’ve talked to Richie Roberts, the new FFA sponsor at the school, and he’s planning to have his students helping with the car parking.
“I think we’re also going to have more vendors come in than we’ve had in the past.”
The Chamber has a standing project to install a new welcome sign at the intersection of U.S. Highway 81 and East D St., which was re-paved and renovated in the fall. However, members of the board decided to reject a design submitted by a Duncan-based sign company.
“We’ve been in touch with Kelly’s Trim Shop [in Duncan], and they’re going to come up with something new,” Scott explained.
Scott also suggested the Chamber assume another sign project at a different entryway into the community.
“The sign at Waurika Lake [on State Highway 5] is falling down,” he noted. “I’ve talked to the Corps of Engineers and they’ve agreed to provide the materials to fix it, and we’ll do the labor.
“We need to fix that, because that sign is identified with Waurika.”
Scott also said he had been approached by a representative of the Drummond Ranch, which annual hosts several National Cutting Horse Association events at its Chisholm Trail Arena. Those competitions draw several hundred entries and Waurika benefits economically.
“The folks at Drummond say they’d like to get more involved in Chamber activities and they’d like us to get involved in their cutting horse events.
“They just had an NCHA event there that drew 500 horses and there’s one coming up in October that will bring in about 700 horses. They estimate their events bring about $10,000 into the community.
“It would be something good for Drummonds and us to get together.”
