7 minute read
Edmond Life and Leisure - May 1, 2025
Welcome to our DT Edmond Arts Festival
It is one of the biggest weeks of the year for celebrating our Edmond downtown area. It is being held this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This is the 47th annual arts festival put on by the Downtown Edmond Business Association (DEBA). This is put on by volunteers folks and it is spectacular.
It is important that you know where the shuttle car park is going to be. This will make your time at the festival much easier, and you will not have a long walk back to your car after seeing all the incredible vendors and eating your fill of fantastic food. The City is not going to let us put out yard signs directing people to pick up the shuttle location at 1st and University. I am not sure why, but we will be asking. It seems like letting some temporary signage would be a no brainer especially since it is in support of an event that brings so much revenue to Edmond. These vendors all remit sales tax so folks coming to the festival from outside of the area support our city services when they make purchases. Then, they go home so it is the best kind of revenue a city can receive. The economic impact is estimated at over $ 1 million.
If you are coming to the Downtown Edmond Arts Festival but dread driving around finding a parking space, they have made it easy for you. You can park at one of two UCO parking lots on the west side of 1st and University, and board a shuttle bus. After a short three-minute ride you will be dropped off just a block away from the arts festival.
The service will be free, thanks to sponsorship by CityLink, Visit Edmond, the Edmond Chamber and the Edmond Economic Development Authority. The bus will run about every 15 minutes from 9:30 am to 8:30 pm on Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3, and from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm on Sunday, May 4.
“We often heard of visitors frustrated with the lack of close-up parking, especially from parents of young children and those with mobility issues,” said Michelle Schaefer, Arts Festival co-chair. “We want to make it easy for anyone to be able to attend without worrying about walking several blocks in the heat and wind.”
Schaefer is a rock star folks when it comes to helping not only downtown arts festival but also many other organizations in town. She is tireless and has helped since 2003 even when she has had knee problems. She and I have had knee surgery on both knees, so we are good to go walking around. She helps with logistics to design to marketing and we appreciate her so much. If you know her, I hope you will thank her for her dedication to Edmond. She is a true gift to the community so thank you Michelle! We have been blessed to produce and publish the official program for this event for the last 22 years. It was inserted in last week’s newspaper. Thanks to Schaefer’s efforts the program has won awards in national competitions. There are still these programs out and about at our office and other locations during the festival. You can also go to our website, www.edmondlifeandleisure.com, to see the print replica on your phone. It has artists, maps and more information.
Our advertisers in the program include Integris Health Edmond, Edmond Electric, Francis Tuttle, City of Edmond and Visit Edmond just to name a few help make the program possible. The advertisers in
this official program are great corporate citizens and I hope you will thank them for using this opportunity to promote themselves to support a local event.
There are 21 food vendors at this year's event so you will not go hungry. It is hard having an office downtown during the festival because you get to smell all the great food. The hard part is deciding what to eat. When I used to weigh 300lbs I could eat more so making the right decision was not so important. A hundred pounds less makes it more difficult to choose just the right food booth, but it is a wonderful problem to have.
You should also keep in mind that if you are not an eat outdoors kind of person, downtown Edmond has plenty of indoor places to pick from these days. Not the least of which is the newly restored Old Icehouse. They have brunch there on Saturday and Sunday. We tried it out last weekend and it was fantastic. The house made biscuits were to die for and I know my biscuits.
Prime Time Travel Celebrates Anniversary and Relocation in Edmond
Prime Time Travel is and has been for 25 years the official travel agency for Edmond Life & Leisure. They do advertise with us, which is a sign of intelligence, but they also offer great service and experience. If they were not the best in town, we simply would not recommend them so highly. They held a ribbon cutting with the Edmond Area Chamber of Commerce to celebrate their anniversary and relocation.
Prime Time Travel, a full-service travel agency in Edmond, is dedicated to creating personalized travel experiences. The company is proudly celebrating 45 years in business. Since its founding, it has been a trusted local partner in planning individual, group, and corporate getaways, helping clients explore the world and create lasting memories.
With a steadfast commitment to exceptional customer service, Prime Time Travel ensures every journey is tailored to each client’s unique preferences. Whether it is a relaxing tropical escape, a cultural exploration, or a custom-designed worldwide itinerary, the agency’s expert advisors bring decades of experience to every trip.
As Prime Time Travel celebrates this milestone, the agency looks forward to continuing its tradition of excellence and helping clients create lifelong memories through extraordinary travel experiences. They have experts in all kinds of travel, but their strongest suit is Europe. These days you really do not want to plan a trip out of the country without the help of a travel agent.
The one time I tried to book a hotel in Italy without the advice and help of Prime Time was a disaster. We ended up in a room that had a drain in the middle which should tell you a lot. The shower not only flooded but it also would not turn off. That is when I figured out what the drain was for my friends. I called a different hotel and explained my problem and where we had checked in. The lady on the other end of the phone said, “Oh my God, I am sending a cap to pick you up right now. My thought in the cab on the way to a paradise of a hotel was that I would never go to Europe again without using Prime Time.
For more information visit https://www.primetimetrvl.com/ or give them a call at 405-340-1120.
(Ray Hibbard, publisher of Edmond Life & Leisure, may be reached at ray@edmondpaper.com)
