By Caleb Wortz
The grand opening of Sapulpa’s 2023 Route 66 Christmas Chute began Thursday evening teeming with visitors and festivities.
Last year’s Christmas Chute was viewed by many Sapulpans as a great success but this year’s event may put up stiff competition. New features include updates to last year’s decorations, more photo opportunities and exhibits, and even a large rentable tent for company-size Christmas parties
There will also be a Santa for photo opportunities as well as a reindeer exhibit which was particularly popular Thursday. The Chute will run from now to December 31st.
“I think the crowds are bigger than last year,” said Janet Birnie, Sapulpa’s Chamber President. “Last year was great though, but it does feel like there’s more and more action down here right now.”
Birnie has been volunteering at the chute and said they’ve had three to five hundred volunteers with thousands of hours of volunteer work between them. She also mentioned specific local organizations that helped make this possible.
“We could not have done it without places like Bennett Steel, American Heritage Bank and the Chamber donating time,” Birnie said. “Everybody is donating time to this.”
She also explained a lot of the economic potential the Chute has for local businesses. The chute brings a large wave of new customers to the downtown but Birnie says that even places like La Margarita, Ken’s Pizza, and Boss Hog BBQ experienced large growth during last year’s chute.
“It’s just cool to see that people love this town and they’re going to come together to make it great and that they’re proud of it,” Birnie said.
For a few new downtown businesses, this is their first experience as a vendor during the Christmas Chute. Sapulpa’s Little Taiyaki, which opened in July, was excited if a little nervous about the event.
“Once we opened the doors people just steadily started coming in and that’s great,” said Michelle Gutierrez. “I’m excited but also a little nervous at the same time.
The Chute has also brought back the Okie Igloo Village from last year. These igloos sport 8 different themes to pick from and can be rented for two hours. They’ve added two more igloos than last year, each one containing an electric fireplace, blankets, pillows, and a Bluetooth speaker.
I think it’s gonna be great,” said Amy Barnes, who operates the igloos. “We’ve already had an overwhelmingly great response from the community, everyone’s just so excited for Christmas and they couldn’t wait for the reservations to open.”
The grand opening brought in a large crowd of families with happy children, couples, and an occasional friendly dog. One of these visitors was Sapulpa’s own Emily Hopper, a teacher from Lonestar.
“It’s just so sweet because everybody in town has done this, it’s not done by a big corporation or anything like that,” Mrs. Hopper said. “It’s just been done by people in the community and that’s the best part.”
One visitor came all the way from Indiana because of her son who had recently moved to Sapulpa. She said she had looked up local Christmas events and saw the Chute and decided to check it out.
“I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t this,” said Cindy Gaby. “This is so cool and impressive for the size of the town.”
Last year’s Chute brought in visitors from 48 different states, according to Birnie. This year is shaping up to be another fun event for the coming holiday weeks.
“This is the best thing in the world that can happen to Sapulpa,” Birnie said. “To have all these people come together and enjoy Sapulpa and see what a superb, cool little town we have.”
To get more information on events or details about the Route 66 Christmas Chute, visit route66christmaschute.com
