Last night at a mayor's candidate forum in Norman, Cindy Rosenthal made the claim that Downtown Norman was a greater tourist draw than OU campus, even on game days. I don't believe this for a second, but perhaps I'm missing something. Does anyone know how this could be true? I know there's the Sooner Theater but that's empty 80% of the time. Then we have a couple modern art places that are equally empty. And of course we have several pawn shops, furniture stores, and tattoo parlors. I'm not saying downtown is bad (yes, I am), but I certainly don't believe it's the top tourist draw in Norman.

Not sure I could go along with the mayor even if Campus Corner was lumped in as being part of DT. It's possible she was a party girl in younger days. Or there may be some other explanation for such an odd statement.

Can't concur with you that DT is bad, but no one is gonna mistake our E Main for campus draw power, especially not on the holy of holies for Sooner fans.

Perhaps I was harsh in my assessment of downtown Norman. I guess it's because I see so much potential for it being wasted.

Still, I've thought about this all day and can't figure out how she can possibly claim downtown is more of a tourist draw than OU, even on game days.

If you look at it from the perspective of a person that is just visiting Norman and is unfamiliar with it, I can see how this might be the case. Many people come to town for the May Fair, the Chocolate festival, and the NMF, and those are probably considered "downtown".
I don't necessarily agree, though, especially with the "on game days" comment. That's impossible.

Top tourist destination in Norman? That's by far the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History. That place gets busloads of people year round.

Top tourist destination in Norman? That's by far the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History. That place gets busloads of people year round.

Probably true although I much prefer the FJJMA but JMO.

I can't imagine downtown is a greater draw than CC to the average visitor but what do I know? I'm a CC kind of person since it is close but I also like DT and think it is coming along.