Last Saturday night a group and friends and I went to see The Drunkard and The Olio, on the stage weekly at the Tulsa Spotlight Theater at 13th and Riverside.

The Spotlighters say The Drunkard in Tulsa is one of the longest-running productions in the country, and it’s one of the few places in town where you’re encouraged to boo the bad guys and cheer on the good guys as a the story unfolds on stage. What follows is The Olio, a showcase of local talent. It all takes place inside the historic Spotlight Theater, which is both cozy and grand at once. We ate cheeseburgers served in little baskets and Fritos from the bag, and we drank cold cans of Diet Coke. One of us even got to serve as an assistant to a magician performing in The Olio. Her job was to make a bright-red hankie disappear into an egg. Then, she broke the egg into a glass. The audience ooo’d and aaah’d. It was amazing, and gooey.

There’s nothing else in town like it, any of it. And a one-of-a-kind evening of entertainment is absolutely worth the $13 ticket.

Learn more about The Drunkard and the Olio and Spotlight Theater at spotlighttheater.org.

Looking for the list of the most exciting events and art, music, free stuff to do and fun for the kids in Tulsa this weekend?

As featured every Friday on the KRMG Morning News with Joe Kelley and Six in the Morning, check out at DO WHAT? at ThisLandPress.com, the place where Oklahoma finds the best things to do in Tulsa.

Stuff to do on Friday
Stuff to do on Saturday
Stuff to do on Sunday
Editor’s Picks for the weekend

Don’t see your favorite event? No sweat – we can fix that. Kindly send details.

Today’s post comes from Tulsa blogger and writer Jennifer Luitwieler. She blogs at jenniferluitwieler.com/blog, and her book, Run With Me: An Accidental Runner and the Power of Poo, was released earlier this year. Welcome back, Jen!

During the five weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, nearly a dozen stores opened temporary spaces in downtown Tulsa’s Deco District. According to Libby Auld, president of the Deco District business owners’ association, the idea spawned new life for some of the vacant buildings there.

And today, several of them are extending their stay and sinking their roots downtown. Indie Emporium, Bison & Bear, HOOD and Earthly Organics are helping to bring a robust offering of retail shopping choices back to the core of the city.

Collectively, sales at the stores topped $100,000, according to a release about the store openings. Auld’s Elote saw a 23 percent increase in sales while the holiday pop-up shops were doing business near her store, while Mod’s Crepes saw an increase of 76 percent.

Indie Emporium is a market offering the handmade goods of 30 local and national artists. Once an annual event for Tulsa, owner Christine Crowe and her husband Thom designed the space to be an offshoot of the local crafting event they started six years ago. Their calling the shop Made: Indie Emporium, and their open their doors Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

Crowe’s shop carries her own work, screenprinted linens and book prints, as well as handmade soaps, jewelry, accessories and paper goods. The couple plans to find ways to participate in the Two Bucks on Boston event every Wednesday, which offers puffy tacos and gelato specials at a price fixed at $2, along with short classes and crafty giveaways.

And then there’s Bison and Bear, a menswear store that’s a “collaboration between my brother and Michael and me,” according to co-owner Joel Hitsman. Between his fly fishing and outdoor gear and his brother’s line of custom neckwear, they found that the holiday season was a perfect time to see what they could accomplish together. They added a line of skin care and shaving items which are selling well, too, they said.

Other stores opening in the Deco District either today or soon include HOOD, a resource for modern design enthusiasts and collectors, and Earthly Organics. Candy Castle is slated to open after some construction work is complete.

Learn more about the Deco District Shops and get the latest news about sales and openings at their Facebook page, Deco District Shops of Tulsa.

For when you need fried sausage rolls, biscuits and gravy, and/or cinnamon rolls the size of your face: Daylight Donuts Super Shop, on Yale at the Broken Arrow Expressway. Which happens to have a kick-ass sign, too, by the way.

Yes.

The billboards go up in early November: the flushed cheeks of a Coca-Cola- reminiscent Santa Claus rendered 10 feet high. The words, the call to action, read simply, “RideTheChristmasTrain.com.”

In less than two days, the 50,000 tickets available for the 2011 season of The Christmas Train in Dry Gulch, U.S.A.—the annual Christmas-time attraction produced by Broken Arrow’s Church on the Move—were gone. They’d sold at a rate of nearly 20 every second.

Read the rest of this story on the Christmas Train at Dry Gulch U.S.A. at This Land Press.

Looking for the list of the most exciting events and art, music, free stuff to do and fun for the kids in Tulsa this weekend?

As featured every Friday on the KRMG Morning News with Joe Kelley and Six in the Morning, check out at DO WHAT? at ThisLandPress.com, the place where Oklahoma finds the best things to do in Tulsa.

Stuff to do on Friday
Stuff to do on Saturday
Stuff to do on Sunday
Editor’s Picks for the weekend

Don’t see your favorite event? No sweat – we can fix that. Kindly send details.

The nominees for best blog are:

• ArtofManliness.com
• Batesline.com
• TulsaFood.com
• TashaDoesTulsa.com

Up for favorite blogger are:

• Kim Brown, Tulsa World, Pop Blog
• Jennifer Chancellor, Tulsa World, Barrelhouse Beat
• Sarah Roe, KOTV/Griffin Communication, Money Saving Queen
• Jason Ashley Wright, Tulsa World, Inalienable Wright

I’m proud to see that This Land Press was nominated for a number of awards, too, including Favorite Reporter (Holly Wall), Best Use of Social Media, Best Use of Multimedia, Favorite News Website. Thanks to all for your nominations. We’re honored.

Please take the time to vote for your favorite blogs/bloggers in the Tulsa Press Club Newsies 2012. Helping your local bloggers win awards is one of the best ways to make what you already love even better — an award can mean a boost in brand recognition for that blog or blogger, which can translate to new opportunities that will make your experience as a subscriber of that blog all the richer.

The Newsies award ceremony is slated for March 1 at The Broadway, 720 S. Kenosha in downtown Tulsa. Reception at 6 p.m., presentation of awards starting at 7 p.m. Everyone’s favorite weather woman Julie Chin will emcee (yes, I know you’ve moved on to bigger and better things, Julie, but don’t be surprised if you don’t remain the favorite weather woman for, like, ever), and complimentary hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar will be on hand. Tickets are $20, or $15 for Press Club members. Call (918) 583-7737 to save your spot.

I hope to see your bright and smiling faces there in support of these members of our local blogging community. It’ll also be a prime chance to meet Tulsa journalists and newsmakers.

Cheers, and happy voting!

I know we’re more than two weeks into it, but I’ll say it anyway: Happy New Year! But no new year is complete without the promise of an upcoming blogger meeting, right? The assurance that we blog publishers of the Tulsa area are going to get together over food and a local expert’s blogging know-how, for the edification of us all? So we’re going to fix that right now.

At this months’ blogger meetup, you’ll get:

• To hang out at the exclusive Tulsa Press Club in the historic Atlas Life Building;
• Sliders for dinner! I’ve put in our order for dinner, so please plan to chow down with us — each plate is a mere $10;
• A free copy of the latest edition of This Land
• The expertise of local public relations pro Mandy Vavrinak, who is going to talk to us about how PR can help blog publishers
• To generally enjoy the company of your fellow Tulsa-area bloggers

Cost of admission to this event is $10, which goes to cover the cost of your yummy slider dinner; the opportunity to mix and mingle with some of Tulsa’s most influential online media makers is, of course, always free.

Big thanks to the folks at Tulsa Press Club for hosting us — please RSVP to the Tulsa Blogger Meetup: New Year Edition on this Facebook event BY THE END OF THE DAY TODAY so I can give a final head count to the folks who will be whipping up our food. I’ll collect your cash for dinner at the event.

See you all there!

LOCAL BUSINESSES: If you’d like to donate an item for a giveaway at this meetup, please e-mail tasha@tashadoestulsa.com.

This weekend residents of the Tulsa area have a rare opportunity: The Keystone Ancient Forest west of Sand Springs is open to the public. This only happens about once every month or so, and it’s an exciting chance to both enjoy the outdoors as well as get a feel for what Native Americans and early European settlers had to deal with as they crossed from the eastern portion of the state to the west. I wrote about it in my Done That column at This Land Press; today, Tulsa-based blogger Sasha Martin of Global Table Adventure fame takes us along with her and her family into the forest.

I had my doubts as we pulled into the gravel parking lot for http://sandspringsok.org/category.php?cat=1001″>the Keystone Ancient Forest Trail. I wasn’t worried about the trail — I’m always up for an adventure — but rather about taking my then-20-month-old daughter hiking. Especially considering she’d only started walking at 15 months.

This could be a huge mistake, I thought to myself.

I hoisted Ava out of her car seat and we walked over to the trail head. My husband, Keith, put together our equipment: An apple, water and a backpack for Ava, should the trail prove too difficult. Five volunteers greeted us with guide books, smiles and a pile of walking sticks. We chatted for a few minutes about what we could expect from the short, three-mile trail. We were given the option of going with a guide or alone.

We were feeling brave, so we opted to go alone.

The trail was wide, at times the width of an average one-car drive, and mostly flat. Ava took great pleasure in chasing the dragon flies, running from the one snake we saw and, most of all, carrying a walking stick, just like mama and papa.

We took our time, going Ava’s pace, and were soon passed by a group of 10 year-olds, all chattering excitedly. This was definitely a family-friendly trail. No bikes. No pets. Nice, roomy.

About halfway out we stopped to admire the view of the water, just visible through the still-bare trees, and snacked on our apple. Down the hill at the side of the trail was a cluster of small, scraggly, old trees – 500 years old, to be exact.

So there we were with our 15 month-old, a smattering of 500 year-old trees, and an apple, on one of the 12 days each year these ancient trails are open to the public. It was a great Saturday.

Want to hike the Keystone Ancient Forest yourself? You can do exactly that this Saturday. Get the details on the January Keystone Ancient Forest Hike at DO WHAT?

Looking for ways to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day? Events and services range from a huge parade to a food-gathering event to a free film showing; get the list of things going on around town for MLK Day at DO WHAT?

Photo by Fabio Marini