By Rowynn Ricks
CNHI News Service
WOODWARD — Organizers officially announced Monday former President George W. Bush will celebrate the Fourth of July in Woodward.
The announcement came during a special press conference Monday morning in the Josie Adams Cultural Centre.
Woodward Mayor Bill Fanning said Bush will be speaking as part of “a special July 3rd and 4th celebration that will forever mark the positive results that our city has achieved (with the Crystal Beach Park renovations).”
It was revealed during the press conference this will actually be Bush’s second visit to Woodward as he visited the community in the late 1980s while campaigning for his father George H. W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States.
But, according to Fanning, it will probably be the first time a president has ever visited Woodward proper.
He noted while 34th President Dwight D. Eisenhower landed at the Woodward airport in 1957, Eisenhower stayed close to the airport and “never actually came into the city.”
Since Bush is expected to make it inside city limits on July 4, Fanning said he would like to remind Woodward’s citizens “this is a good time for our citizens to start cleaning up, sprucing up; let’s put our best foot forward.”
Ever since word got out about Bush’s upcoming visit, the mayor said there “has been a buzz around town.”
“I’m still trying to grasp the magnitude of it,” Ronnie Brittain said.
“It’s an extremely exciting time for our town,” said Kathryn Upchurch, manager of Woodward’s Main Street organization. “It’s history in the making.”
“This is probably the most exciting thing we’ve had happen to Woodward in years and years,” Fanning said.
“Everyplace you go in Oklahoma, everybody’s asking how we got the president to come to Woodward,” Woodward Industrial Foundation President LaVern Phillips said.
“But why wouldn’t he (Bush) come?” Phillips asked. “Positive things are happening here; I think he wants to share in the excitement.”
Event promoter Landon Laubhan said there was a lengthy and “interesting process” involved in getting the former president to visit Woodward again to be part of two-day celebration.
The process included submitting a number of recommendation letters from officials including U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe and U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas as well as a personal invitation to Bush himself.
“Just the fact that he would look at the invitation and accept it is an honor and privilege and shows how much respect he is giving Woodward,” Laubhan said.
“There’s no greater honor than to have the 43rd president of the United States, President George W. Bush, to participate in our patriotic celebration,” Fanning said.
Since the celebration has been organized to commemorate the renovations at Crystal Beach Park and the park’s 80th anniversary as well as Independence Day, the mayor said he is “so excited to be able to reward our citizens and neighbors who voted for and supported our park remodeling project with this celebration event.”
In addition to Bush, the two-day event also will feature seven various country artists. Although performance times have not been finalized, the artist lineup was released at Monday’s press conference.
On July 3, the country music concert series is set to begin with a performance by Bo Phillips, older brother to Stoney LaRue. Next in the lineup is Mike McClure, followed by Asleep at the Wheel and Tanya Tucker with Stoney LaRue finishing the evening.
Then following Bush’s speech on July 4, there will be a 90-minute concert by Marty Stuart. The Saturday night concert will close with a performance by Sawyer Brown and the evening then will be capped off by a fireworks display as the grand finale.
“We’ve become an entertainment hub in northwest Oklahoma,” Fanning said. “So this will be our chance to showcase what we can do.”
“With all these events, it’s going to be a great drawing card for our community,” Upchurch said, noting she hopes some of the visitors will be drawn downtown as well.
“We’re already getting quite a bit of feedback from neighboring areas,” Fanning said, noting he believes the event will have a major economic as well historic impact on the city.
Ricks is a staff writer for Woodward News.
