Cities' events get their start with a bang
Guthrie, city events to start with a bang

By Brian Sargent

Published: November 16, 2007

Dr. Hugh Scott, secretary to Territorial Gov. Frank Frantz, ran from the State Capital Newspaper building — now a publishing museum — and fired a pistol at 9:16 a.m. on Nov. 16, 1907, declaring Oklahoma had officially become a state.

The secretary's great-grandson, Hugh Scott, will recreate the moment. It's one of many re-enactments and events scheduled for today in Guthrie and Oklahoma City.

Guthrie was the state's territorial capital before statehood and for a short time later.

Today, after the gunshot, members of the 4th Cavalry Regiment will perform a gun salute and lead a procession to the Carnegie Library in Guthrie where Statehood Day ceremonies of 1907 will be re-enacted beginning at 10 a.m.

The announcement of statehood and re-enactments will be shown live on six large video screens in downtown Guthrie.

A parade begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Guthrie Scottish Rite Masonic Center, goes west on Oklahoma Avenue, south on Second Street, east on Harrison Avenue, south on Division Street, and ends at Mineral Wells Park.

A free picnic, hosted by the Guthrie Chamber of Commerce and the Guthrie Centennial Committee, at the Mineral Wells Park will begin at 1 p.m. The menu will be the same that was served on Statehood Day in 1907 — smoked beef, a slice of bread and a pickle.

There will be live entertainment and food vendors throughout downtown Guthrie and at Mineral Wells Park.

Participating celebrities include Reba McEntire, Toby Keith, Garth Brooks, Vince Gill and Carrie Underwood.

Other celebrities include The Flaming Lips, Amy Grant, Shirley Jones, Leona Mitchell, Miss America Lauren Nelson from Lawton, Kelli O'Hara, Willard Scott, Patti Page, Jimmy Webb, the All-American Rejects and Blake Shelton.

Tickets are sold out, but the concert will be shown live at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark and on six large screens in downtown Guthrie.

Following the simulcast at the ballpark, Horseshoe Road, the Oklahoma Centennial Opry, Destan Owens, the Sweet Adelines and Bryan White will perform. A fireworks show will begin at 10:30 p.m.

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