Signs of the Times has been sold; last events to be held in February

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Signs of the Times, one of Sapulpa’s most beloved businesses, has been sold.

Or rather, the building has been sold, according to an official statement from Jim McGee, the manager for the popular event center.

Owner Larry White says that the collection is not included in the acquisition, and that part of it will be sold off in an auction on February 29th. “Anything that has been given to me, or that belongs to someone else, I’m going to keep,” White told Sapulpa Times in a phone interview earlier this week.

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When you look at the sheer volume of historical artifacts, it looks like someone would’ve spent a lifetime gathering them. Surprisingly, White a local business owner with a knack for acquiring homegrown antiquities, said that he began collecting things “one or two or three things at a time” for just fifteen years.

Eventually, the collection got to be big enough to warrant its own location.

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“My wife calls it a disease,” he says. 

White bought the building in 2013, and it was not in the best shape—one of the “assets” of his new purchase was a tree growing through the building. He began working on it and it opened for events in 2014. He says that the new owners have plans to fix it up, “even better than I.”

White says the final events in the building will be in February, including a public event with Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, so mark your calendars.

There may yet be another chance to view these iconic pieces of Sapulpa history at some point in the future. White told Sapulpa Times, “We’re not quitting, we’re just changing the way we do it.”

The entire statement is reprinted below:

To Our Dear Friends and Valued Clients:

Regrettably and with great sadness, as of March 1, 2020, we will no longer be offering Signs of the Times as an event facility.  We want to thank you all for the great times we have had hosting your parties and celebrations, but at this time, we feel the need to reassess our future goals and will be exploring other options for displaying our prized collection. To all who have had the experience to enjoy our collection of the best of a time long gone, we thank you for your patronage.  

To quell any rumors, our building has been sold to an excellent architectural group, Sparks Reed Architecture and Interiors https://www.sparksreed.com/ who wish to move their offices from Tulsa to Sapulpa which will add another great addition to the Sapulpa business community.

Their ideas for improvement of our property while maintaining the historic preservation of the building make us confident that we are turning over one of Sapulpa’s great landmarks to people that care about the history of our community.

Again, we can’t thank you all enough for the great times you have given us!

Sincerely,

Larry and Jim