Lilac Festival to give downtown Claremore flowery new look

The downtown Claremore Lilac District will soon get a makeover to match its name, said the director of the upcoming Lilac Festival.
Claremore's inaugural Lilac Festival will bring live music, dancing, shopping deals, vendor booths and more to the downtown streets from Thursday to Saturday. The festival is free and runs from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Steve Robinson, executive director of organizer Claremore Main Street, said the festival will usher in permanent cosmetic changes to the Lilac District.
"We're gonna have flower baskets, planters, street poles all painted black," Robinson said. "It's going to transform the look downtown."
Robinson said Claremore Main Street will paint a purple Lilac District logo on the street at the intersection of Will Rogers Boulevard and Cherokee Street. The organization will also hang lilac baskets from the light poles and place lilac-filled concrete planters beside downtown benches.
Claremore's downtown has carried the Lilac District name since 2021, when Claremore City Council passed a resolution to make it so. The name pays tribute to Lynn Riggs, author of "Green Grow the Lilacs," the play that inspired the musical "Oklahoma!"
"The Lilac Festival will really focus on the connection between the Lilac District, 'Green Grow the Lilacs' and Native Americans at the beginning of our state," Robinson said. "'Green Grow the Lilacs' was all about Claremore becoming a state. ... What we are celebrating is that era of statehood where you brought together Native Americans with farmers, with ranchers, and you mixed all those cultures together, and that became Claremore."
Riggs embodied this mixture: His mother was one-eighth Cherokee, while his father had English heritage.
On Friday, festival attendees can take part in square dancing and a pie auction, both elements of Riggs' "Green Grow the Lilacs." At 9:30 p.m. that night, the Claremore Museum of History will screen "Oklahoma!" at Gazebo Park.
The festival will also spotlight Claremore's Cherokee heritage.
Monica Champ, a Cherokee jeweler and beadwork artist helping to organize the festival, said the organizers are inviting women to wear their ribbon skirts Thursday for a style show.
"The reason we wear them is to show our pride, our solidarity, our sovereignty, that we're still here," Champ said.
She said Choogie Kingfisher, a storyteller and Cherokee National Treasure, will perform at Gazebo Park from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Cherokee artists will also sell their wares at vendor booths throughout the festival, and kids can make their own Cherokee-inspired art by painting rocks to form a snake, which Robinson said will stay on display downtown after the festival.
Champ said she is very excited for the festival and hopes it will promote "gadugi," the Cherokee concept of building and strengthening community.
Robinson said the goal of the festival and accompanying cosmetic changes is to make downtown Claremore a destination spot.
"We really want the Lilac Festival to become an event like Dickens [on the Boulevard] ... where we draw 10,000 people to downtown Claremore and get a feel for it so they want to come back," Robinson said.

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Women Who've Rejected Marriage Proposals Are Sharing Exactly Why They Said No, And Honestly, Thank Goodness They Did

Reddit user rosieposiepoo333 recently asked, "Women who have turned down proposals, how did you do it?" We also asked women of the BuzzFeed Community to chime in with their stories. Here's what they shared: 1."I broke up with my ex on the day we were supposed to go ring shopping. He tearfully told me how he had inherited enough money from his great aunt to buy the ring of my dreams, and I told him it didn't matter because our relationship wasn't meant to be. It was not an actual proposal, but the closest I got to marriage before I met my now-husband." —question_girl617 2."It wasn't pleasant. I walked him further down the beach and explained why the proposal failed. They were things we agreed upon, or so I thought. We wanted and agreed on a private moment, but he invited everybody. We wanted something very quiet, but he had a whole band playing and photographers. I wanted a simple, low-key necklace, maybe something simple with moonstone, mother of pearl, or opal, which he seemed excited about. But he gave me a very expensive amber chunky ring with a dead bug in it. Only our entomology friend liked the ring; everyone else was very confused or grossed out." "Then I asked him to try again. He took it well until he saw our friends. Then he sobbed loudly and complained to everybody about how I rejected him. We were engaged for like eight years. He never tried again, by the way." —Not-A-SoggyBagel 3."I did it in the worst way. I said, 'That will never happen.' To be fair, we were not in love; he was my boss, and he told me he had a list of things he looked for in a woman, and I checked off the boxes." —After-Carpenter-4089 4."It was the wrong ring. I know that sounds super shallow, but I have a very specific ring in mind and am very vocal about it. My friends know, my family knows, my colleagues know. There is no hiding my particular style. I like yellow gold, and I detest diamonds. Anything that fit that description would have worked. Instead, I ended up with a sterling silver ring with the ugliest cut diamond I have ever seen. My partner was obviously not listening to me and had not discussed proposing to me with my father (I'm a little traditional) or my friends. So I said no. Now, I'm in a relationship with a man who has already talked to me about ring choices, discussed his engagement plan with my closest friends, and had the conversation with BOTH of my parents regarding the proposal and his plans to marry me." —Anonymous 5."I was proposed to three times before I met the man I eventually married. In those days, a proposal was considered a private moment between two people, not a public performance. In each case, I told them that, while I cared for them and was honored that they cared enough for me to want to marry me, I did not think we had the foundation for a compatible and happy marriage. In all three cases, they were not surprised that I said no. They were just hopeful that, if I saw how serious they were, I might be more willing to compromise on what I wanted for my future." —readbackcorrect 6."It was not in public, and it was not done politely. A lot happened between us, and it was mostly not good. I may have laughed and told him that he'd lost his mind, and maybe he should've asked one of his side pieces (he didn't know I knew). I knew he was never going to be the person I married. He was toxic, and he turned me into the worst version of myself, and I was finally starting to see it. He just didn't realize the same thing." —GiveMeAlienRomances 7."My ex gave me a ring that he picked up from his mom's house as she was going through her jewelry and getting rid of some stuff. The ring itself was the same engagement ring she had received from my ex's dad when they first got married, but then they divorced years later because he cheated on her with his secretary (whom he then married). So the ring itself was already haunted with a terrible origin story, and it was also missing several stones and was way too big for my finger. My ex gave it to me and said he wanted to 'fix it up' for me. We had only been together for about six months, and I had to tell him I didn't want to get married to him, and also, the ring was not one I'd ever wear. It wasn't a public conversation, but it was still one I didn't want to be a part of." —msnegative 8."My ex proposed AFTER I had broken up with him and moved out. I had found out he was hiring sex workers. I had gone to the house to pick up some things, and he got down on one knee and held out a ring. I rolled my eyes and told him to F off." —squirrelly_chaos 9."The guy I was dating just kind of assumed we'd be getting married, and I'd follow him to his next job. To be fair, I was kind of up in the air, but I was planning to go to grad school and just hadn't shared that with him. When he asked me when, not if, I wanted to get married, I flippantly said, 'I'm not marrying you.' He was shocked. We were not on the same page at all!" —Hazelstone37 10."We were in a restaurant, and a violinist appeared. A box was produced containing a ring. We were in a relationship, and had been for about a year and a half. He was a sweet guy, but nine years younger than I. I said no and explained that we weren't there yet. He was sad. Within a year, he was showing signs of a nervous breakdown. I had no idea what was happening. He became incredibly paranoid, and his behavior became very strange. Turns out he had a crack problem. I had never taken drugs other than trying weed as a teen, so I wasn't able to read the signs correctly. He was doing it at night when I went to bed. That was the end of that." —Poullafouca 11."My partner has 'proposed' four times to me and I've always said no. He proposed the first time after two years of being together. I said no because we were long-distance at the time. Then I finally got a job near his place, so we moved in together, and I soon got pregnant. We had our son, and our relationship turned very sour. I think we both had postpartum depression. This is when he decided to propose for the second time. Of course, I said no. We worked on our relationship. It took us a very long time, but we managed to get through our problems — at least it felt like it. Fast forward seven years, and we got pregnant with our second son. I thought we were in a good place, but I found out he was chatting with other women during the first few months I was pregnant with our second son. When I confronted him, after a week of arguments, we agreed to go to a restaurant to have a 'neutral' place to talk, without our sons, and he proposed again. I said no." "It's been eight years since then, and I've been in survival mode for my sons. He proposed once again last year. The ring has changed, but not my answer. As I type this, I realize how toxic we are for one another, and we are both to blame. I guess he proposes to me for the wrong reasons, and I keep saying no because I probably know deep down he's not the one for me, and I'm not the one for him. We've been together 19 years; our sons are nearly 16 and 9. The proposals were always casual, but they always came with a ring. I'm turning 40, and I know my sons deserve better because both my partner and I are unhappy in our silent relationship." —Anonymous 12."I knew he was planning to propose because I overheard him talking to his mother about redesigning family heirloom rings. I wasn't sure how much I even liked him, let alone if I'd commit to marrying him! I tried to talk to him about how good it was to take things slowly, but a week later, the proposal came regardless. I said how I felt honored by the rings, but couldn't accept them because it felt too soon for me, and then I returned them. He became very pushy, saying things like I was just overwhelmed, and of course, I wanted to be with him forever. I said I wasn't overwhelmed, I just didn't think he was 'the one.' It was sudden, and we hadn't even discussed our core beliefs." "He said I'd never get anyone better than him, and he'd give me a week to think about it. I had many possessions at his house but packed everything and left when he went to work. He was furious, so I stopped taking his calls. I spent the next decade dating, loving, and losing, and then I found a guy I knew I had a good future with. We've been married 28 years and he is MUCH better than him, who, interestingly, never got married." —Maclardy44 13."We were at IHOP. I told him to shut up and eat his pancakes. A couple of months later, he was banging my mom." —busterann 14."He proposed in public, but it wasn't a grand gesture. We were eating out, and he quietly asked. I told him I wasn't ready (we had been having problems beforehand). The problems got worse, and we finally broke up. He's been living with someone else longer than he and I were together, and they aren't married." —Loisgrand6 15."I smiled, held his hand, and said no. It was high school, he was a year above me, and we were on a school group spring break. I explained that we were way too young to even consider it. He pressed and tried to give me the ring as a promise ring, and I still shook my head and told him to get a refund for the ring and use it towards food (his family wasn't doing well)." "The second one I struggled with. He did it privately in a hotel room, and I felt nothing. I realized right there that I cared about him, but wasn't in love. He tried for two weeks, and I politely told him I wasn't ready, but he didn't seem to want that. (Now I know he was afraid of me leaving him, so he was trying to tie me down.) The third person was nice, but I simply reminded him I wasn't interested in marriage. We dated for another year before we split." —VivianKink 16."We'd been dating for over two years, not exclusively, because neither of us wanted to marry again. We'd both gotten screwed over before. He was very insistent, even while driving through nice neighborhoods he was looking to buy into, reminding me the house would be his, not ours. He constantly told me I wasn't going to lock him down. I met someone new who asked for monogamy. I agreed and broke off the dating relationship. Suddenly, he wanted to buy 'us' a house, showed up with a ring, and stalked me. I had to get a new phone number because of all the voicemails and texts. I've been married to the other guy for over 18 years." —Anonymous 17."We'd been broken up for about a year. It was a bad breakup, and that was his choice. I'd moved back home for a part of the time (another state, 2,000 miles away), and he worked hard to get me to move back to where we'd met and lived. Within five minutes of picking me up, he proposed in the car while driving. In all seriousness. I said I wasn't ready to talk about that. Apart from the whole breakup/get back together thing, I was 23 and am not keen on marriage in general. It never came up again. We broke up for good about a year later, which made sense to both of us. He greatly impacted my life, but I have no regrets. He's been married and divorced a couple of times since. I had a partner for 20 years. Neither of us was into marriage." —bootsbythedoor 18."My ex dropped down on one knee on a beach in Mexico during a Christmas vacation. My knee-jerk immediate reaction was to scream, 'OH DEAR GOD, NO!' He immediately fumbled and pretended to fix his shoe. We pretended it never happened, and I left him a few months later." —little__boxes 19."When it happened in private, I stayed quiet and pretended I didn't hear it—not out of cruelty, but because I didn't want to hurt him, not even gently, with words I wasn't ready to say. But the one time it was real and in public, I felt my heart ache. I knew I couldn't say yes, but I also couldn't let him carry that rejection in front of a crowd. So I kissed his forehead, held his hand, and softly asked if we could talk privately." —Creative_Purple9077 20."It was not in public. We were broken up for about six weeks. He slept in his car outside my house all night, and when I woke up in the morning to get ready for work, I realized he was there. I went to talk to him, and he immediately tried to get down on one knee and had a ring box in his hand. 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