Opening Night 2008 invites everyone to Downtown Oklahoma City on New Year’s Eve to celebrate with music, dancing, theatre and fireworks! Since 1987, Opening Night has been the way to ring in the New Year. All performances take place in a safe, family-friendly environment.

Opening Night is Monday, December 31st, 2007 from 7 p.m.-midnight in venues around Downtown Oklahoma City and Bricktown. This year's entertainment features a variety of performances from some of Oklahoma's brightest stars.

A special feature of Opening Night 2008 is a special concert with Oklahoma City's own Grammy Award-winning alternative rock band, the Flaming Lips! Please note that this concert requires a separate ticket purchase, and an Opening Night wristband does not grant you admission.

An Opening Night admission wristband allows you access to all venues, all night long. Wristbands are $8 in advance, or $10 at the event. Wristbands may be purchased beginning November 23rd at all metro Homelands, MidFirst Bank locations, Penn Square Mall, and Mathis Brothers.

For more information on Opening Night call (405) 270-4848.



SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Venue 1- Cox Convention Center
Flaming Lips 9:00 (separate ticket required)

Exhibit Hall A
Highlanders of OKC 7:20, 8:45, 10:45
Dance Dimensions 7:00, 9:00
Desert Fire 7:30, 9:30
Total Equilibrium 8:00, 10:00

Exhibit Hall E
Evangelicals 7:00
Starlight Mints 7:30

Lobby
Upside Down Artist 7:00 (ongoing)
KC Mathey as Woody Guthrie 8:00, 9:30

Venue 2- Crystal Bridge Conservatory
Buffalofitz 7:00, 9:00
Sunshine Hahn 8:00, 10:00

Venue 3- Stage Center
Arena Theatre
Jets Inc. 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, 10:00

Tolbert Theatre
Edgar Cruz 7:30, 8:30, 9:30, 10:30

Cabaret
Kelvin Drake 8:15, 9:15, 10:15

Venue 4- Civic Center Music Hall
Gaylord Theatre
World of Magic with David Thomas 7:15, 8:45, 10:15

Lobby
Who Dean the Great 7:00 – 11:00
April Fool, the Clown 7:00 – 11:00
Face Painters 7:00 – 11:00

Venue 5- City Hall
CDS Jazz 7:30, 8:30, 9:30, 10:30

Venue 6- Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library
Boru's Ghost 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, 10:00
Kristin Butke School of Irish Dance 8:00, 9:00

Venue 7- Leadership Square (Children's Area)
Rhythmic Freestyle Dancetwirl 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, 10:00
Steve Smith & Friends 7:00, 8:00
Jahruba & The Golden Hands 8:15, 9:15
Oklahoma Children's Acting Guild 9:00, 10:00

Venue 8- First National Center
OK Chorale/OK City Chorus 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, 10:00

Venue 9- Chase Tower
Stephanie Jackson 10:00
Al Good Orchestra 7:00, 8:00, 9:00

Venue 10- TAP Architecture Garage
Jayne Doe 7:00
Bedside Symphony 8:00
Refuje 8:45, 10:15
The Electric Primadonnas 9:30, 11:00

Venue 11- Kerr Park
Tornado Alley Roller Girls Bout 7:00, 8:00
Lemma 9:30, 10:30

Venue 12- Bank of Oklahoma
Tall Cotton String Band 7:00
Red Dirt Rangers 9:30, 10:30
Horseshoe Road 8:15

Venue 13- Bricktown Ballroom
The Non 7:00, 9:00
Student Film 8:00, 10:00

Venue 14- Bricktown Coca-Cola Event Center
Mariachi Orgullo 7:00, 9:00
Son del Barrio 8:00, 10:00

Strolling Park Avenue
Bricktown Clowns 7:00
Douglass High School Marching Band 8:30, 10:15
Rachel and Ash Iraqui 7:00, 9:00
St. Andrew's Dung Lac Lion Dancers 8:45, 10:30
Katilee Thomason 9:00-11:00


And of course the countdown and fireworks at midnight.

That sounds awesome!

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" You've Been Thunder Struck ! "

holy cow that is alot!

sounds fun! but BF and i decided it will be super cold and we dont own parkas so we are going to riverwind for the new years! We went last year and i couldnt move my face for a few days! lol

Downtown will be hopping, with the Lips at the Cox and Blazers annual game at the Ford Center.

Downtown will be the place to be !!!!

Oh I forgot about the Blazers game!
Yes, it will be very hopping downtown. They will have a ton of security around too!
Bundle up and come visit me! I'll be over at the main stage area most of the night taking care of my Lemma boys. Plus it's the center hub where the fireworks and countdown will be held. =)

Have any of you ever taken children to this event? I see there are children's things planned.

Opening Night is a GREAT event for children, and families of all sizes and ages.

From ice skating to story-telling to the magician and other music and dance groups, etc., it is truly a fantastic night for EVERYONE!!!

I have taken my children almost every year since 1995. They are 15 and 16 now and have had a great time every year. I don't know if they still do the scavenger hunt but that was great fun for the kids. I am this is the first year to miss Opening Night in a long time because we are going to Tempe to watch the Cowboys play football. Sorry to miss it but 14 hours in a car with two teenagers can be just as fun I'm sure.

What are you doing on New Year's Eve? How about volunteering?! The Opening Night Children's Area needs some help. We need volunteers to work in the area helping children make crafts and play games. It's a really great time, and you'll be helping a really great community event.

Various shifts are available, so you can just work a couple of hours and still get to enjoy some of Opening Night.

If you're interested, please call Jennifer Barron at 270-4848 or email jbarron@artscouncilokc.com

I haven't been to an Opening Night in years. When did they cease using the Courthouse as a venue. Back when i did go, there were usually 2-3 decent musicians based there.

ALL GIRL FLAT TRACK ROLLER DERBY HITS THE STREETS OF OKLAHOMA CITY!

AND THE GRAMMY AWARD WINNING FLAMING LIPS at Cox Center!

The Exhibition Bouts for Tornado Alley Rollergirls and Green Country
Rollergirls will be at 7PM and 8PM at the corner of Robert S. Kerr &
Broadway.

#11 on the map link.
Opening Night Map - Arts Council OKC

Opening Night Bracelets are $10 and can be bought online at
Oklahoma Event Tickets - OKC Tickets.com

Flaming Lips will play at Cox Center at 9PM. Tickets are $15 for
that show. You can save $5 if you are going to the Lips and Opening Night if
you order through http://www.ticketmaster.com
To get your $5 wristband, please show your Flaming Lips ticket at
the Opening Night Headquarters at the north end of the Cox
Convention Center, beginning at 4 pm on New Year's Eve.
I just checked and the "Best Available Seats" are already on the
upper level (400's).

We have over $3500 in prizes to give away!!!!
Only 1000 will get to participate - first come, first served!

Sportsman Warehouse (5) $100.00 gift cards
Instantmemoriesphotography . com (2) complete family portrait
Mathis Brothers gift certificates (1) $50.00, (1) $100.00, (1)$250.00
4 pair of tickets to Frontier City
Fender DG-8 Acoustic Guitar Starter Pack from Guitar Center $199.00
4 tickets to Lyric Theatre's production of SWING!
2 Season tickets to Shakespeare in the Park
3 sets of 4 tickets to OCU production
4 pair of passes to UCO Performing Arts
Build-a-Bear 100.00 gift certificate
Oklahoma Event Tickets - OKC Tickets.com (2) passes to any event
1 Blue Note Membership to the UCO Jazz Club
2 hour glass blowing lesson from Blue Sage Studios
OKC Library Bundle of Books
4 tickets to Pollard Theatre
4 tickets to the 2008 Yard Dawgz Home Opener
Roll-A-Way Rink 5 pairs of free skating passes $70.00
4 tickets to any Friday Blazers home game
4 tickets to Carpenter Square Theatre
$50.00 Gift Certificate for Four Paws Boarding and Grooming
3 pair of passes to the UCO Jazz Lab
Chuck-E-Cheese Family Diner and 30 game tokens
Passes to the Harn Homestead
$25.00 gift certificate to Incredible Pizza
Popcorn Gift Basket from the Popcorn Fharmacy
$20.00 gift certificate Blockbuster
Tapwerks Ale House & Café $20.00


Cheers!

Moose Ondaluce
your Roller Derby Track Announcer
http://www.mooseondaluce.com

More Information for you about Opening Night -

Streets will close at 5:00pm throughout the main celebration area so you will be able to walk between events without traffic worries. Also the Opening Night Express free trolley service will run again this year. Trolley stops as well as parking spots are shown on the site map. (this can be found on the arts council website)

The Braum's ice skating rink will be open and only $5 with your Opening Night arm bracelet. The snow tubing at the Brick will be $10.

The Opening Night Race to Adventure is an extreme scavenger hunt. Start at the Cox Convention Center, use the clues to get to the five venues, then race to the finish line at the First National Center to enter the drawing for all kinds of great prizes including: Shakespeare in the Park season tickets, Fender DG-8 Guitar from Guitar Center, Frontier City tickets, and gift certificates from Blockbuster, Build-a-bear, and Mathis Brothers. The drawing will be held at the Kerr Park Finale Stage at 11:00 PM.

So - you guys can go do the scavenger hunt, experience all the events and areas, come back to the main stage - watch the rollergirls beat each other up, then watch LEMMA rock the stage (where I will be handing out our new free demo cds), win some prizes, then experience the countdown with fireworks and the ball drop. whew! All of that for one low price.

Come out!

Opening Night is produced by the Arts Council of Oklahoma City. Wristbands are $8 in advance or $10 at the event. Children under five are free. Advance wristbands can be purchased at metro Homelands, MidFirst Banks, Mathis Brothers, and Penn Square Mall. They can also be purchased online here --
Opening Night 2008 - OKC Tickets.com

For more information visit Home - Arts Council OKC or call (405)270-4848

Sounds like fun. Depending on the weather, I might try to squeeze in there... I have an apartment just a few blocks away which serves as a nice base of operations for these downtown events

__________________
It's a friendlier OKCTalk!

Must be nice to walk home after Opening Night. Two years ago my family and I got a room at the Courtyard. We went to the Hornets game and then had dinner at Trattoria and then watched some of the bands before we watched the ball at midnight. I must say it was nice not to have to fight traffic when we were so tired.

speaking of fighting traffic, i haven't been to this since the first one, when traffic wasn't much of an issue... anyone have some good parking tips for the area? i'll be heading down there mainly for the Lips concert and fireworks...

Nice. I wish I didn't have to drive and park. So - the party is at your house then while we wait for traffic to move???