Good morning, Stillwater! This is your weekly update for November 6–November 12, 2025.

Happy birthday to Mary Cheever and Bobby Douglas, the local king of BBQ 🎂

In this week’s Lokal Life:

• Five Festive Fall Markets 🛍️

• Stillwater’s Season of Skating Starts Soon ⛸️

• Cowboys tunes, campfires, and chili at the Old Church ⛪︎

• Beers and cheers for Charity (but if you puke, you gotta run another lap!) 🍻

Well, we made it through our first ‘Ber month and our first big holiday. My two-year-old is still scared from Halloween night trick-or-treating in the Wedgewood neighborhood. They go all out there!

Thanks to those who came out on Saturday for a cup of coffee with me. I met Chloe, McKinly, Morrow, and Stephanie and we had a really nice time. I forgot to state the time in my last email even though it was in my two weeks ago email (whoops!). Morrow and Stephanie said they’d like to do something like this again. The more the merrier! I’ll get my times published next time and it’ll be a date. ☕

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WHAT’S UP IN STILLWATER

Thursday, Nov 6

Pitch-A-Friend, Find a Catch 💘

It’s kinda like the inverse of a roast (a freeze?). Pitch-A-Friend is a unique matchmaking concept where you get to tell the crowd how fantastic your friend is/what a great catch they are, with a 3-5 slide presentation. Even if you're not pitching or being pitched, it’s a neat way to meet new people! Sign up to pitch.

📅 Thursday (Today), Nov 6 | 9 PM
📍 The Dirty Rooster, 319 S Washington St

Friday, Nov 7

44th Annual Stillwater Fall Festival 🎨

The 44th Annual Stillwater Fall Festival is back! They will have 150+ booths of art, crafts, and gifts at the Payne County Expo Center. Free to come and browse.

📅 Tomorrow, Friday, Nov 7 (10 AM–5 PM) & Saturday, Nov 8 (9 AM–4 PM)
📍 Payne County Expo Center (4518 Expo Cir E)

Saturday, Nov 8

OSU NASA 54th Annual Contest Powwow 🪶

PowWOW a lot is going on at the Expo Center this weekend! NASA (Native American Student Association) is hosting their 54th Annual Powwow at the Payne County Expo Center this Saturday. There will be food, craft vendors to pair with the colorful cultural celebrations honoring Native American heritage.

📅 Saturday, Nov 8 | 1 PM - 11 PM
📍 Payne County Expo Center

Fall Market at Lighthouse Creative Studios 🍂

Lighthouse Creative Studios (a local photography studio and small event center on Campus Corner) is having Fall Market this Saturday. Lots of local vendors, handmade goods, festive stuff.

📅 Saturday, Nov 8 | 4 PM
📍 Lighthouse Creative Studios (519 W University Ave Suite B**)**

Westwood Elementary Fall Frolic 🍂🍭

Something fun ‘n festive for kids this weekend! Westwood Elementary is hosting their Fall Frolic this Saturday with bounce houses, face painting, hay rides, raffles, and a "pie a teacher" booth. Students get 2 free tickets when they enter, and additional tickets are $1 each. Don’t need to be a student of that school to come 🙂

📅 Saturday, Nov 8 | 1 -3 PM
📍 Westwood Elementary School (502 S Kings St)

STARR "I Run for Miles" Charity Beer Mile 🍺🏃

Run a quarter-mile lap. Drink 1 beer. Repeat three more times. That’s it! There is a puke penalty of running another lap, which is no fun. But it’s a great way to make a memory on a brisk November morning while you’re raising some funds to find a cure for Multiple Myeloma, an incurable blood cancer. Just $10 to participate, beers included. It’s not a timed race.

The Sign up (if 21 or older) and more information are ready here.

📅 Saturday, Nov 8 | 5 PM
📍 Meet at Stonecloud, 917 S Husband St
💳 $10

Around the Hollywood Campfire at The Old Church 🤠🎶

I reckon this here to be a nostalgic trip through the Golden Age of Western movies and TV! Janet Rutland, National Fiddle Hall of Fame member Shelby Eicher, and Scott McQuade team up with NPR's John Wooley for an evening of cowboy songs, stories, and movie tributes. They’ll be performing tunes from Gene Autry, Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer and more memorable western melodies.

📅 Saturday, Nov 8 | 6 PM potluck, 7 PM show
📍 The Old Church, 750 N. Main, Perkins
💳 $20 ($15 seniors/veterans/military/teachers/students, $10 for ages 18 & under)
❓Questions? Call Monica at 405-612-3183

Sunday, Nov 9

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis 🎺

I used to think Jazz was cheesy 90’s mall elevator music. Boy was I wrong. I first encountered Mr. Wynton Marsalis in Ken Burns’s super long Jazz documentary, and since then, I’ve been a big fan. And he and his top-notch big band are performing in town at the McKnight Center this weekend.

Yes, the tickets are sold out BUT! You can still experience all the goodness that is great jazz for free! Yes indeed, you can watch the concert simulcast for FREE on The McKnight Center Plaza. They have a 32-foot LED wall and advanced sound system so you can enjoy (and dance if you feel it!) the best Jazz.

📅 Sunday, Nov 9 | 3 PM
📍 McKnight Center Plaza (the free simulcast)

Tuesday, Nov 11

Two Great Ways to Spend Veteran’s Day (Tuesday, Nov 11)

Veterans' Day Ceremony at Fairlawn 🇺🇸

The community is invited to Fairlawn Cemetery for a special Veterans Day ceremony presented by Stillwater's American Legion at 9 AM. Light refreshments and coffee will follow. Active and retired military and their families are encouraged to wear uniforms or insignia of service.

🕓 9 - 11 AM, Fairlawn Cemetery

A Veterans' Day Tribute 🎺

Stillwater Community Center is holding a free Veteran’s Day Tribute concert later that evening. Crossings Christian High School Jazz Band and the Stillwater Big Band will perform. I always try to make it to these concerts because our bands are great, and it’s wonderful to celebrate those who served.

🕓 6 PM, at the Stillwater Community Center

Wednesday, Nov 12

50th Philosopher-in-Residence: "On Truth in Politics" 🤔

Mark Twain once said:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime."

Now if you swap out the word “Travel” for “Philosophy”, the quote still works! So if you’re looking to open your mind to good thinking, here’s a good one:

OSU Philosophy's Friends of the Forms Club is celebrating their 50th Philosopher-in-Residence! Dr. Michael Patrick Lynch will deliver a thought-provoking lecture titled "On Truth in Politics: Why Democracy Demands It." It’s Free and open to the public.

📅 Wednesday, Nov 12 | 7 PM
📍 124 S Monroe St, Social Sciences and Humanities Room 035, OSU

You may not be interested in philosophy, but philosophy is interested in you 😁

Our Season of Skating ⛸️

I wasn’t sure last week if this was a one-day thing or not, but Ms. Stacie McGrew told me that the Block34 Skating Rink is indeed a season long deal. Sweet! It starts next Wednesday, Nov 12 and will run through January 18th — seven days a week, even on Thanksgiving and Christmas!

$13 gets you skates and admission, there’s no time limit. The hours are:

Weekdays: Monday-Thursday, 4-9 PM
Weekend: Friday, 4-10 PM, Saturday, 12-10 PM, Sunday, 12-9 PM

📍 Block 34, Irby Lane

Coming up soon

United Way Pickleball Tournament 🏓

Grab your paddle, eat a pickle, and find a teammate! The Annual United Way Pickleball Tournament is coming up next weekend on November 14 & 16. Don’t need to be a pro, just come to have fun. Every team has a 6-game guarantee. Starts with round robin, then shifts to best 2 out of 3 games to 11. Compete against players from across Payne County while supporting a great cause!

Just remember: stay out of the kitchen, don’t lob it high, and practice your cross-net dink skills. May all your serves be unreturnable!

Register your team to find your starting time. Registration closes on Nov 10.

📅 Thursday, Nov 14 & Saturday, Nov 16
📍 Stillwater Indoor Pickleball Club (2510 All Star Dr.)

LOCAL BUSINESS

💽 Vintage Media Market Seeks Shop Partners

Pete Thomas of Vintage Media Market (1108 S Main St, just south of the roundabout) has big ideas and plenty of inventory—books, CDs, DVDs, records, VHSs, you name it. His store is one of the best in town for enjoying quality analog media.

He hopes to find a larger location closer to the downtown shopping/dining area where there is some walk-in traffic and is looking for vendors interested in partnering. If you've got vintage goods or complementary inventory and want to explore the possibility, he would love to talk.

📧 [email protected] or 📞 (405) 338-9126

💜 Bliss Books and Bindery Hosts Local Writer/Veteran

Bliss Books and Bindery will host local author and decorated veteran Pat Razook this Friday at 2 PM. Attendees can receive a signed copy of his recently published memoir, Purple Heart & Orange Pride. Come meet a one-of-a-kind Stillweigan.

🍨 Ice Cream that says “Howdy!”

Where once was the Marble Slab Creamery on 229 S Knoblock St, we now have the newly opened Cowboy Creamery and Cookies. They started scooping on Oct. 27. I hope they have Spumoni (a.k.a. the best ice cream flavor ever) but it’s probably better for me if they don’t.

🚚 New Trailer and Diesel Shop Opened

Rockin A Enterprises opened their new trailer and diesel shop November 3rd, up on Washington Rd up past the Cimarron Turnpike turnoff (801 Canter Ct.). They are currently booking RV, truck, trailer winterization appointments. Wasn’t it Benjamin Franklin who said, “An ounce of winterization is worth a pound of cure”? Something like that. 😉 Reach out to Ms. Tonya to get a spot: 405-780-2443.

🎪 Final Outdoor Vintage Flea Market of 2025

Jeremy and Beth Ronspiez, owners of Memory Lane Vintage Mall, are hosting their final outdoor market of the season this Saturday. There will be 60+ indoor booths and 15-25 outdoor vendors. Could be a perfect place to knock out all your holiday shopping and feel super that it went to small local businesses (and not that one rainforest website 😜).

📍208 W 10th Ave 🕗 Saturday, Nov 8, 10 AM - 5 PM

LOCAL FAITH HAPPENINGS

Oklahoma Academy Concert — Saturday, Nov 8 🎶

Oklahoma Academy is hosting a special community music event at the Stillwater Adventist church on Saturday from 11 AM to noon, followed by a potluck lunch. All are invited to enjoy some great music and fellowship!

📅 Saturday, Nov 8 | 11 AM–Noon
📍 3823 W 19th Ave

Food Pantry Drive at Hosanna Church 🥫

Hosanna Church is working with the Salvation Army to collect non-perishable items throughout November. With this federal shutdown, the need is especially high. If you want to help, please bring items that don't require can openers or cooking: pop-top cans, spam, canned meats, granola bars, fruit cups, peanut butter, and crackers. Drop donations in the foyer container starting Sunday, November 9.

📅 Starting Sunday, Nov 9 | Through November
📍 Hosanna Church (418 E McElroy Rd)

SPORTS

Upcoming home games & matches  🤼 🎾 🏀 🏈

Cowgirl Basketball vs Langston 🏀 
11/6 @ Gallagher-Iba Arena | 6:30 PM

Stillwater Pioneers vs Southmoore Sabercats 🏈
11/7 @ Stillwater HS | 7 PM, Boys Varsity Football

Cowboy Tennis vs Cowboy Classic 🎾 
11/7-9 @ Greenwood Tennis Center | Fall Tournaments

Cowboy Wrestling vs Stanford 🤼 
11/7 @ Stillwater | 7 PM

Cowboy Basketball vs Texas A&M 🏀 
11/9 @ Gallagher-Iba Arena | 1 PM

Cowgirl Basketball vs Oral Roberts 🏀 
11/9 @ Gallagher-Iba Arena | 5 PM

7th-8th BB Stillwater Pioneers vs Mustang Middle 🏀
11/10 @ Stillwater HS | 4:30 PM, Boys MS & Girls Basketball

Cowboy Tennis vs UTR PTT Stillwater 🎾 
11/10-12 @ Greenwood Tennis Center | Fall Tournaments

Cowgirl Basketball vs Prairie View A&M 🏀 
11/11 @ Gallagher-Iba Arena | 11 AM

Cowboy Basketball vs Prairie View A&M 🏀 
11/12 @ Gallagher-Iba Arena | 7 PM

RANDOM ᝰ.ᐟ

🥤 A once discontinued soda pop brand is coming back next year!

THANKS!

Thanks for reading the Stillwater Lokal Life today. If you found something good, share it with someone who you think is smart.

P.S. Speaking smart people, the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department is holding their annual chili cook-off on November 10th from 11 AM to 1 PM. I can’t think of who is better qualified concoct chili than those who can appreciate the bean…not just from a taste perspective but from a scientific level…who know intra-bean-meat-flavor interactions down to the molecular level and back. 🧑‍🍳 Cool beans indeed!

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