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2 Green Country Scene • Volume 7 • Issue 1
Kim Poindexter
Joe Mack
Jake Sermersheim
Contributing
Mary Hanfee
Emmet Jamieson
Angel Ford
Renee Fite
Cathy Spaulding
SUBLIME SPACE Tahlequah Create, River & Words renewed focus on the arts
By MARY HANAFEE
On a given weekend in Tahlequah, live music drifts from intimate gallery spaces while poets share new work, filmmakers screen documentaries and visual artists rotate fresh pieces onto the walls.
What was once a quieter arts landscape evolved into an increasingly active scene shaped by collaboration, accessibility and community support.
Much of that momentum can be traced to grassroots venues intentionally bringing multiple art forms under one roof. Tahlequah Creates, founded in 2019, began as a collaborative effort among local artists who wanted to expand opportunities for creative expression. Since then, the gallery has grown to represent more than 40 local artists while also hosting musicians, comedians and filmmakers.
“So many people in our community are artists,” said Karriddean Anquoe, of Tahlequah Creates. “Some have been perfecting their skills for a lifetime, some have just begun, and some create art every day without even knowing it.”
Anquoe said the gallery was designed as a gathering place where art is not only displayed but shared – a space to create, learn, socialize, network and explore ideas. Over the
past year, Tahlequah Creates has also strengthened its role in the local music scene through weekly house concerts that consistently draw audiences.
“Some musicians have become beloved regulars, and the crowds they bring in show that there is a want for this in Tahlequah,” Anquoe said. The shows emphasize original music alongside storytelling, humor and candid interaction between performers and audiences in an intimate setting.
That emphasis on connection is echoed at River & Words Art Collective, which officially opened its doors in December 2025. Founded by Shelley Nation and Kellie Vann, the gallery was created to provide artists from across the country a space to exhibit their work while offering the community a safe, welcoming environment for artistic exchange.
“Our gallery was created to allow artists an opportunity to have an exhibition of their work,” Nation said. “We also wanted a space that allows people in our community and nearby areas an opportunity to share artistic ideas, collaborations and information.”
River & Words hosts fine art exhibitions, regular poetry readings, documentary screenings and live music. Monthly programming includes a featured poet with an open mic, as
well as a documentary series highlighting Indigenous communities. Art classes and poetry workshops are planned as the gallery expands its offerings.
“There can be no society without poetry,” Nation said, quoting poet Octavio Paz. “I would like to add to that statement that all art should be included.”
Vann said the gallery’s programming responds to long-standing interest in the arts within the region.
“Tahlequah has been evolving as a sort of arts mecca for this side of northeast Oklahoma for a while,”
she said. “We’re here to nurture that growth.”
Organizers from both galleries say collaboration across disciplines has helped strengthen the scene, drawing new audiences while giving artists opportunities to experiment and be heard. Anquoe credited community members who return regularly and those discovering the spaces for the first time.
“Art allows free expression, sharing and connectedness,” Nation said. “We are living in a broken world, and art, poetry and music are the avenues for healing.”
Green Country Scene • Volume 7 • Issue 1 7
Sacongah Gray, left, and Agalasiga Mackey before a Friday night House Concert.
TOURNEY ACTION
NJCAA coming to Rougher Village in March
By ANGEL FORD
Fans are gearing up for the National Junior College Athletic Association Region II Basketball Tournament, set to return to Muskogee in March with some of the region’s top junior colleges.
Those teams will converge at Muskogee Rougher Village, with postseason hopes on the line.
“There are nine men and wom-
Muskogee School District
The NJCAA National Tournament is coming to Muskogee in March.
en’s teams that are currently vying for only eight spots,” said Muskogee Tourism and Exposition Marketing Manager Patrick Kays. “The Top 8 will qualify for the Region II basketball tournament.”
The nine teams competing for the Region II title are Northern Oklahoma College Enid, Seminole State, Redlands Community College, Western Oklahoma, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, Eastern, NOC Tonkawa, Connors State women, and Murray State men. Connors will be defending its title after dominating both the regional and national levels last year.
The Region II tournament’s top teams will advance to the NJCAA National Championship Tournament with the Region II Champion earning an automatic bid to compete for the national title.
The women’s quarterfinal is slated for March 11 and men’s competition begins March 12. Semifinal games will take place March 13, with women’s matchups in the afternoon and men’s games in the evening. Championship matchups are scheduled for March 14.
Brackets, game times, and ticket information have not yet been announced.
“Once we get a little closer to March, when the bracket will be released, people will be able to buy session tickets or all tournament passes where they can enjoy every single game,” said Kays. “Those will be available a little bit closer to the
10 Green Country Scene • Volume 7 • Issue 1
event. Right now, the teams are vying for their spots in the regular season, and so once we get a little closer, we’ll
be able to have more information.”
To stay up to date with any information, visit visitmuskogee.com.
Join the Exchange Club of Muskogee for two unforgettable events in 2026! Be apart of the Green Country Scene wherewe celebrate community, connection, and giving back. See you there!
Rougher Village is set to host the NJCAA Tournament.
Historic Historic Downtown Downtown
SHOP ,D INE, AND EX PL ORE DO WNT OW NT AHLE QU AH
A 13-foot skeleton perches atop a thin metal support structure on a thick wooden table.
MOSEY-ING ALONG
Eclectic Route 66 museum acquires big prehistoric sea reptile
By EMMET JAMIESON
When visitors step into Catoosa’s
D.W. Correll Museum — with its collection ranging from classic cars to ancient geodes — they may notice a fossilized reptile that appears to be soaring directly at them.
The 13-foot skeleton perches atop a thin metal support structure on a
thick wooden table. Its open jaws strain after an inflatable pterodactyl, and its paddle-like limbs are spread out wide like wings.
Curator Eric Hamshar said many visitors think the skeleton is a dinosaur. The remains look like a dinosaur’s, Hamshar said, and the museum uses that word in its promotional materials.
Hamshar said it’s really a mosasaurus, an aquatic, lizard-like reptile that died out in the same extinction event as the dinosaurs. He said people might know them from the 2015 movie “Jurassic World.”
“Pop culture made this cool,” Hamshar said. “Of course, kids love dinosaurs, anyway, but specifically, they know what mosasaurs are. That’s great. For a museum that is a rock, mineral, fossil museum – when you say a fossil museum, what do you think of? Dinosaurs. To actually have one here is a big deal.”
The museum first put its mosasaurus, Mosey, on display in summer 2024. Hamshar said Mosey got his –or her, as mosasaur fossils don’t give scientists enough clues to determine sex – name from a group of Collinsville fourth graders visiting the museum on a field trip.
When mosasaurs lived, Oklahoma was part of the vast, shallow Western Interior Seaway. Hamshar said though archaeologists have found lots of mosasaurus bones in Oklahoma, Mosey came from Morocco by way of Tombstone, Arizona.
Mosey is a complete skeleton, Hamshar said, but the Moroccans who dug up his bones didn’t find him that way. He said that in Morocco, nomadic Bedouin people gather bones in the desert, then sell them to companies that put together a single skeleton from the remains of various individuals of a species. Hamshar said Mosey is meant to represent a juvenile mosasaurus.
Hamshar doesn’t own Mosey; the skeleton belongs to his friend Nabeel Ashraf, who runs a rock and mineral shop opposite the infamous O.K. Corral.
“He found it at the Quartzsite [Rock, Gem and Mineral] show,” Hamshar said. “... The dealer was try-
ing to pack up and leave. Didn’t want to take all this stuff home, so he was making deals. My friend got excited. He bought a mosasaur, and then he realized, ‘I don’t have a place to put a mosasaur,’ and so he thought of me.”
Ashraf said he and Hamshar became friends through Facebook groups for rock collectors. He said he has been collecting prehistoric artifacts since he was a young child; he even has a separate mosasaur skull he displays at his shop, Rock Slingers.
In Oklahoma, only Norman and Idabel have museums with dinosaur bones. Though mosasaurs aren’t dinosaurs, Ashraf said he wanted people in his friend’s area to be able to see prehistoric reptile remains.
“It was just the right time, and it was a need for something like this to be in Oklahoma on public display,” Ashraf said. “It has great educational merit.”
Ashraf said he doesn’t plan to take Mosey back anytime soon and is talking to the city, which owns the D.W. Correll Museum, about selling it.
The museum sits just off Route 66, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2026. Hamshar said while many of the museum’s Route 66 visitors are after the antique automobiles, he’s looking toward Mosey as another way to draw in travelers.
“Everybody loves it, and it’s really become a marketing tool for the museum,” Hamshar said. “He’s going to end up on a centennial shirt. ... There’ll be magnets and probably some postcards, too. Mosasaur is becoming the star of the show.”
The museum is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
Admission ranges from $2 to $5 per person.
RECORD PLAYERS
Goingsnake Records and Vintage focuses on all forms of music
By MARY HANAFEE
A lifelong love of music and years spent collecting records have come together in Tahlequah with the opening of Goingsnake Records and Vintage, a locally owned shop focused on music in all its forms.
The store is owned by Richard and Amy Tannehill, but the vision behind it stems largely from Richard’s personal connection to music. He said opening a record
store felt like a natural next step after years of collecting and listening.
“I’ve always liked music, and it’s always been something that makes me happy,” Richard said. “I’ve been collecting for years and thought I’d open a shop and see what happens.”
Goingsnake Records and Vintage carries a wide range of music related items, including records, CDs, cassettes and clothing, with an emphasis on variety
and affordability. Richard said the goal was to create a space where anyone could find something that speaks to them, regardless of age or musical taste.
“Everything is reasonably priced,” he said. “I tried to have all genres from new stuff, old stuff, CDs, cassettes, records, clothing or anything music related.”
Richard’s musical roots trace back to his childhood, shaped
Amy Tannehill inside Goingsnake Records and Vintage.
by the sounds his mother played at home. He credits those early influences with sparking his interest in collecting and exploring different genres.
“My mom would listen to B.B. King and Bobby Moore,” he said. “I was brought up on blues, and that’s what started everything.”
That early exposure led to a broad appreciation for music of all kinds, something reflected in the store’s inventory. Richard said he listens to nearly everything and enjoys how different styles can shift a person’s mood or energy.
“There’s so many different kinds of music,” he said. “There’s always something that affects your mood or changes your mood.”
The store also aims to become part of Tahlequah’s growing local music scene. Richard said he hopes to connect with area musicians and
eventually feature local music in the shop through direct sales or consignment.
“We want to get connected with the local music scene,” he said. “I’m hoping to get local music into the shop. Local bands can call the shop if they’re interested.”
As Tahlequah continues to support live music and local artists, Goingsnake Records and Vintage adds another layer to that ecosystem by offering a physical space centered on listening, collecting and sharing music.
For Richard, the store is more than a business venture; it reflects how deeply music is woven into his daily life.
“Music, to me, means life,” he said. “It makes you happy, makes you move and gives you something to do besides nothing. I have to have music, or it just doesn’t go right.”
OKIE FROM MUSKOGEE
Historic Frisco Depot bringing back Music Hall of Fame
By CATHY SPAULDING
Muskogee’s Historic Frisco Depot can again come alive with music when Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame returns there this spring.
The depot, 401 S. Third St., is undergoing a $2.4 million renovation funded by a grant from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.
The 123-year-old depot has housed OMHOF since 2004.
Since construction started in January 2025, OMHOF exhibits have been displayed at Muskogee Civic Center. Live Thursday night shows at the depot have
been halted until it reopens.
OMHOF Executive Director Tony Corbell said construction could be finished by early or mid-March.
“It might be April or May before we can hit our stride and start having our live shows back,” he said.
More than 100 musicians of all genres have been inducted into Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame since its inception in 1997. Original inductees were 1950s songbird Patti Page, folk singer Woody Guthrie, “Okie From Muskogee” co-writer Eddie Burris, jazz fiddler Claude Williams, and Merle Haggard, who made “Okie From
Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame Executive Director Tony Corbell, right, meets with Jon Vandiver, who oversees reconstruction the museum and concert venue at Muskogee’s Frisco Depot.
Muskogee” a classic.
When renovation plans were announced in July 2024, Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell said Oklahoma has a diverse musical legacy, and the state deserves a hall of fame museum worthy of that legacy.
OMHOF featured a performance venue and a small exhibit space.
The renovation will have a larger exhibit space enhanced visitor experiences, including touch-screen displays and a listening room. The renovation also retains space for concerts, weddings and other events.
The lobby is moving to a south entrance, with the wood handicap access ramp redone in steel to resemble a guitar neck. A plaza is to feature an enormous guitar sculpture. A new marquee sign facing Elgin Street would announce coming attractions.
Corbell said he thinks visitors will love the contemporary look of the
exhibit area.
“Every interior wall has been knocked down,” he said.
Many displays and exhibits are to be shown in road cases musicians take to concerts. An inductee wall is to feature an interactive kiosk where visitors can look up favorite inductees.
The stage on the west side was moved 20 feet to accommodate a catering kitchen and a dressing room with a bathroom behind the stage. There will still be ample space for concerts and other events.
An adjoining caboose, painted shocking red, will have a listening room and theater to hear inductees’ hits and watch videos.
Corbell said the original floor will remain.
“It just has a lot to do with the sound in that building,” he said. “A lot of our musicians and bands [say] that floor is why it sounds so good in here.”
TEEING OFF Carson Park golf course to be ready in spring
By RENEE FITE
The golf course at Carson Park in Stilwell is expected to be ready for golfers in late spring or early summer. The project has taken a bit longer than expected, but that’s not
unusual for a project of this scope. Additional funding to complete the work has been needed, and the Carson Foundation stepped up to assist.
Through the Carson Foundation, Jim and Drew Carson have pro-
vided $100,000.
“The golf course will increase the Edna M. Carson Park usage and provide additional recreation possibilities at the park,” said Jim Carson. “Golf is a lifelong sport, and having a golf course in Stilwell
Mayor Jean Ann Wright, left, is presented a $100,000 check by Jim Carson from the Carson Foundation to complete work at the golf course at Edna M. Carson Park. 24 Green Country Scene
will allow more children to learn the game, which fits the Tom J. and Edna M. Carson Foundation goal to assist children. This allows children to learn the game and possibly play golf their entire lives providing physical exercise and mental health.”
Mayor Jean Ann Wright said she’s looking forward to seeing the golf course open for citizens to enjoy. The city has not provided funding for the golf course, but took care of the dirt work.
“The city is glad to be a partner in this project, which will serve our student golfers, community and give people a reason to visit Stilwell. It will be a wonderful addition to our park,” said Wright.
Committee member Robert St. Pierre said the goal is to start on the greens soon and work on irrigation.
“We don’t have a date of opening scheduled yet, hopefully late spring,”
Mark Hodson, Agent 914 SMuskogee Ave
Tahlequah, OK74464
Bus: 918-456-8881
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St. Pierre said.
Committee Chair Liz Brown knows how important activities are for youth. She sees the advantage for students to have a place in town to practice, rather than driving to Tahlequah. Brown said she knows there are scholarships in golf that go unused every year at colleges around the U.S.
“[There’s been] lots of progress for the golf course, and the pond construction is completed. The first phase for greens and tee boxes is complete, and the turf installed,” said Brown.
The work on the irrigation system will begin once all bids are received and one is awarded.
There are still a few hole sponsorships available and some trash receptacles.
People can contact Brown at 918696-0674 if interested.
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