The year 2024 brought plenty of great, headline-making stories that kept the people in the community engaged and informed on what was happening in Sapulpa. But one thing we learned last year is that there’s plenty more to come, and 2025 looks to be every bit as exciting, as we look to close the chapter on several outstanding stories that have been waiting to be finished. Here’s what we’re looking forward to the most in the next year.
The Dewey Streetscape Redesign
One of the biggest stories in Sapulpa for the last several years, the Dewey Streetscape Redesign has been a topic of conversation (and a point of conflict) since it was first approved in the 2020 GO Bond election. While many of those projects have been completed—and others remain unfulfilled—the Dewey Streetscape Redesign has drawn both praise and criticism for what it intends to do: create a more walkable, pedestrian-friendly downtown.
Although it was initially planned in the earlier part of the 2020s, the pandemic raised construction costs to the point that the project had to be delayed while the city worked to find additional funding. That funding was eventually found through ODOT, but the trade-off was that many of the desired features originally proposed had to be removed or scaled back to meet the requirements of the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). After a failed bid process in 2023, the City announced the project would go forward in 2025.
Despite persistent rumors, Sapulpa isn’t doing away with traffic on Dewey Avenue. Although the original renderings showed mobile barricades that would make it easy to close the street for events (like Dinner on Dewey or the Route 66 Christmas Chute). The latest designs approved by SHPO show a fully functioning Dewey Avenue with two lanes instead of four, expanded sidewalks, and a “loading lane” for easier delivery to retailers. Down the center is a median designed to emulate the trolley tracks Sapulpa had in the early part of the 1900s.
Though parking will no longer be allowed on Dewey from Main Street to Elm Street, the City is taking advantage of the additional space on Water and Park Streets to create new ADA-compliant handicap parking spots.
Bids for the project are scheduled to be collected in January, and construction should begin in March. How that construction process will go will be determined by the contractor, but city officials are hopeful that the project will be completed near the start of Q4 of 2025.
Breaking Ground on the new High School
The ground breaking ceremony for the high school and performing arts center that made up the bulk of the $279 million bond issue in September of 2023 is scheduled for January 14th, which will officially kick of the construction proper, although the school has been modifying parking and student drop-off arrangements for the last several weeks.
School is set to open for the semester on January 7th, and the district is currently working to inform parents of a new Work Zone Alert as the entrance of Sapulpa Junior High School and front visitor parking will no longer be accessible. Junior High student drop-off and pick-up will be at the Woodlawn Annex loop and Sapulpa Junior High’s office will be relocated near the blue canopies just north of the band hall.
Business Openings, Updates, Ownership
Just prior to the construction of Route 66 Christmas Chute for the 2024 season, we saw the opening of the new James Calley Brewing Co., a brand new concept that has the potential to be a new draw for tourism, in addition to just being a great place to get a Reuben. They’re currently taking a post-Christmas-Chute breather and will be back on January 13th.
Just down the street we got a glimpse of Maggie’s Amish Cheese House (21 E Hobson), a new market stocking honest-to-goodness Amish goods like fried pies (which sold out almost daily), and pot pies (big enough to feed a family), as well as cheeses, cookies, native pecans and raw honey, among many other items. The store did steady business during the Christmas Chute, but we can’t wait for them to hurry back! For now, keep your salivating to a minimum on their Facebook Page. No permanent open date set, yet.
Tatanka Trading Post (209 E Dewey) announced on December 26th that they would be closing their doors as the longtime-staple of an antique mall that the location has been for the last several years, with plans to renovate and reopen as something brand new. We’ve heard rumors of what’s happening, but we’ll let the folks at Tatanka decide when to make that information public. For now, they’re running clearance sales through January 31st on a lot of their items, so get while the getting is good.
Gold Diggers has closed their Sapulpa location, the discount bin store announced on their Facebook Page just yesterday. A reason for the closure was not given.
Chef’s Coney Connection is up for sale, as the current owners deal with health issues. The business has been in Sapulpa for 40 years, and has a loyal regular lunch crowd. Somebody needs to snap this one up!
Construction is finishing on the new Starbucks on Highway 97 near the Turner Turnpike gate and they are currently accepting applications and they prepare to open to the public. An open date has not been set, hower.
Speaking of coffee, we have it on extremely good authority that another local coffee shop is on the verge of being sold to new owners. We’ll tell you more about when we the deal is done!
With all these updates, it’s obvious that 2025 will hold a lot of change and updates for Sapulpa. We can’t wait write this year’s recap story!
