I’m a fan of weekends with wide range and wider margins, and this one delivers: a little holiday spectacle, a generous pour of art, and some fire and gems in your own two hands.
Whatever your energy – festive, curious, creative, exhausted – there’s something here to meet you right where you are. Read on and choose your own Oklahoma City adventure this weekend…
Cowboy Christmas Parade – Stockyards City
Sat., Dec. 6 · 10:00 a.m. · Pennsylvania & Exchange
If it would be fun (or funny!) to have a holiday moment that feels unmistakably – almost ironically – Oklahoma, then the Cowboy Christmas Parade in the Stockyards is for you. Horses, longhorns, antique trucks, Cowboy Santa, Reba McEntire's brother, and a line of men on horseback who look like a cross between Santa and Yosemite Sam. Bring a coat, gloves, hot coffee, and someone who’s never seen a horse – they’ll be enchanted!
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Paseo First Friday Gallery Walk
Fri., Dec. 5 · 6–9 p.m. · 3024 Paseo
First Friday in Paseo is a forever favorite – always fresh, always worth leaving the sanctuary of home. Expect easy strolling between shops, live music, open studios, and a fresh batch of art to wander through at your own pace.
Plan to linger at Paseo Arts & Creativity Center on the corner, where you’ll find the diverse works of emerging local artists… and flowing wine! The prices are right, so the red dots appear fast – go early if you’re serious. Then grab dinner at Picasso, or, if you lean thirsty, TOR will take excellent care of you.
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Lincoln Gallery: Afghan Treasures Pop-Up + Nathan Lee Open Studio
Sat., Dec. 6 · Pop-Up: 10-4 · Nathan Lee: 11-1 · 1515 N. Lincoln
If you do holiday shopping but feel the moral failing of it all, the Afghan Treasures pop-up at 1515 Lincoln Gallery is your redemption arc. Handmade jewelry, bright Afghan textiles, the art-as-gifts that won’t appear under anyone else’s tree.
While you’re at 1515, slip into Nathan Lee’s Open Studio and see what he’s been up to. If you’re lucky, maybe he’ll tell you the origin story of the unlikely medium he used to sculpt his coveted earliest works. Grab something warm from the café before heading home for the nap you will require after being out in the wild.
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Gem Jewelry Workshop – Cheyenne Sky Studio
Fri., Dec. 5 · 5:30–9 p.m. · 813 N. Hudson
If specialness is your thing and you’d rather make a gift than buy one, this metalsmithing workshop is the move. Jewelry! Think silver, fire, gemstones, and your own two hands at play crafting a bespoke and highly personal gift. Bonus: it’s totally legal to take this class and keep the spoils for yourself. Who knows – maybe you’ll spark the makings of a new creative superpower!
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Winter Wonderland – Family Vibes
All Weekend · 401 NW 10th St. B
For anyone hauling around children and guilt, Winter Wonderland is a safe, sparkly haven or hell. This is everything you think it is, with twinkle lights, themed activities, little-kid joy, photo ops... and a bar for the weary. Watching kids lose their minds in wonder could repair something small and important inside. But if you didn’t grow up loving Christmas, don’t love it now, and refused to tell your kids the Santa story for fear it would harm their critical thinking capabilities, sit this one out. Bah! Humbug!
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If you're getting up to something fun, weird, festive, or questionably wholesome this weekend, tell us about it in the comments.
