Pirates, Ponies, Gators, and More! All in a Day on Brookside

By Kyra McNamara

The Cook family takes a break from their pirate adventures to pose for a picture.

Kids line up for free pony rides outside of the Angel Food Ministries branch of the Brookside Baptist Church.

Instructors perform a Zumba dance in the Fit for Her parking lot.

Jenny and Jason prove that Halloween costumes are not just for the kids.

Kids have a chance to pet a live gator outside the Trinity Methodist Church.

Cameron (Spiderman), Lexis (Witch), Taylor (Witch), and Hannah (Doctor) pose for a picture in between trick-or-treating.

A scarecrow makes balloon animals for kids outside of Blockbuster.

Alicia and Margarita pass out candy to trick-or-treaters outside of the tailor shop.

Bands, Bikers and More: Scenes from the Boo Ha Ha Parade

Costumes were the order of the day for the Edison Marching Band at the Boo Ha Ha parade.
The Screaming Eagle Marching Band from Tulsa's Edison Prep.
Colorful four-wheelers in the parade, including one with an inflatable palm tree.
Loud pipes were blasting down Brookside during the parade.
Harley motorcycles were in full roar at the Boo Ha Ha, including a Harley ridden by this scary clown.

BooHaHa Parade Continues

Excited crowds await the parade.

The Tulsa Fire Department's pink truck.

Tulsa Fire Department.

An onlooker of today's parade said, "BooHaHa is one of the best parades Tulsa has all year. Events like this - that's what being a Tulsan is all about."

The Boo Ha Ha Parade Begins: Some Scenes from Brookside

A cheer squad in action in front of KJRH Channel 2 in Brookside.
Tulsa dog lovers parading their pets in today's Boo Ha Ha parade.
The Boo Ha Ha color guard cadets from Edison High School.
The Tulsa Police leading the Boo Ha Ha parade.

Trick or Treaters Descend on Brookside

The Brookside Business Association says Brookside is the place to be, a claim that was certainly true today as thousands of Tulsans lined South Peoria Avenue for the annual Boo Ha Ha parade.

Trick or Treaters Descend on Brookside

Decked out as the classical figure Medusa, Saidie, 9, was one of the many trick or treat children at the Boo Ha Ha Parade Saturday afternoon.
Part of the crowd along Peoria Avenue for Saturday's Boo Ha Ha parade.

Boo Ha Ha Brings Crowds to Brookside

Runaway Brides and So Much More: The Tulsa Run Takes to the Streets

By Emily Stern

As I drove up to Third Street and Boulder to reach the start of the Tulsa Run, I saw Snow White, a few fairies, and a man that looked like a goblin.

It's Halloween, time for the Tulsa Run, a race that is run on Halloween weekend every year.

One of the greatest parts of this race is the fact that so many people dress up in their Halloween costumes. I saw a few “runaway brides” who were wearing veils and running the race swiftly, one of my favorite costumes of the day.

This race consists of a 5k wheelchair race, a 5k race, a 15k wheelchair race, a 15k race, a 15k competitive walkers race, and a 2k fun run. This run has been going on since 1978, and it is the oldest run in Oklahoma.

This year the start time was at 8:30 a.m. for the 5k race, which is what I stood by and watched. The people running the race seemed to be having loads of fun, even though it was a chilly and early Saturday morning.

Although I wanted to run the race, I was told that day of registration isn’t allowed for this race because of how much they do for the runners. At first I was let down, but I as I watched the people run by in their various costumes I just chuckled and realize how much I was enjoying myself even though it was an early Saturday morning.

Next year I'll be sure to register early and I will most likely be dressed up in my Halloween costume.

For more run information, check out www.tulsarun.com

Goodwill Industries Opens New Brookside Donation Center

Brookside update from the NewsOn6. Details at the link below.

Goodwill Industries Opens New Tulsa Donation Center in Brookside.

Up Next: Stories and Photos from Brookside's Annual Boo Ha Ha Parade

Brookside's annual Boo Ha Ha Parade is Saturday, October 30, a day that begins with a pancake breakfast and ends with a festive parade down Peoria Avenue.

Other Boo Ha Ha events include a children's festival, trick or treating, a children's costume contest and a pet costume contest.

For more information, check out the Brookside Business Association's web page.

The Brookside Bulletin will be covering the festivities, of course, so check this site Saturday for stories and photos.

Tulsa Student Loves Living in Brookside

By Toni Allen

Studying, photography and part-time modeling keep 20-year-old Phillip Buggs busy. The Brookside resident manages to prioritize them all, putting no one activity before another.

Buggs graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in May, 2008. Today he's a student at TU. He has lived with his parents on Brookside since his early childhood, and he has no plans to move.

“I love it here,” he explained. “There’s nothing else like it in Tulsa.”

He is referring to the unique nightlife, the diverse crowds and the chic boutiques and restaurants. Brookside also offers an array of services, from banks to medical offices.

Asked about the places he frequents, he names a list of shops and restaurants. He stops by Starbucks to relax and unwind, Cosmos to grab a bite to eat and Ivey Lounge to hang out with friends.

The Brookside lifestyle also inspired his latest hobby, photography. “It was interesting to me that so many people walked these streets every day,” Buggs explained. “I started carrying my camera to capture it.”

He has progressed from an amateur photographer to a professional, taking high-quality pictures and creating a still-life from the chaos of Brookside. His practice has paid off, and his hobby has turned into a source of income. He has networked, contracted new clients and currently books photoshoots.

He has also become a subject for some Brookside photographs. His modeling career is off to a start, and is successfully progressing.

What would he change about Brookside? "Nothing," Buggs says. Anything he'd like to see more of? "Nope."

Councilor G.T. Bynum Speaks to TU News Class

Tulsa City Councilor G.T. Bynum spoke today to the TU students who are producing The Brookside Bulletin. Bynum represents District 9, which includes the Brookside neighborhood. With him is Toni Allen, one of the writers for The Brookside Bulletin.

Greg Klaus: Brookside Musician—and Dad

By Mary Donnelly

Brookside resident Greg Klaus is a guitarist as well as a human resources business partner for Williams, a global energy and communications company. Klaus has been in “a string of bands,” one of which was “Mudville Project.”

He is a also a husband and a father who has lived in Tulsa for 19 years, all of which have been in Midtown.

In Brookside, Greg likes the accessibility of parks, the entertainment, restaurants, running on Riverside. He really likes Whole Foods, a natural and organic food grocery store. For his kids he enjoys the new QuikTrip playground at Riverside and 41st Street. He likes the “aesthetic of the old restless ribbon,” a nickname given to the stretch of Peoria in Brookside.

Klaus would like to see some new churches in the neighborhood, since the church he attends is not in Brookside.

Greg has two sons, one 9, the other almost 7. He and his family are TU football season ticket holders. They try to make it to all of the home games, but since his son's sports are sometimes are at the same time, “we go when we can.”

Recently, Greg has been playing at the Church at Battle Creek, playing solo acoustic shows and filling in with the band “Dante and the Hawk.” In the past, his bands have won awards, recorded albums, (one, for “Mudville Project,” in Nashville), released CDs, played at various music festivals including South by Southwest, The Woodie Guthrie Folk Festival and D-Fest.

Greg has a master's in industrial and organizational psychology from The University of Tulsa and his undergraduate from NSU, Tahlequah, in psychology.

Tulsa Councilor G.T. Bynum Will Speak to Brookside Bulletin Writers

The Brookside Bulletin staff will meet with Tulsa City Councilor G.T. Bynum on Tuesday, October 26, to discuss neighborhood ideas and issues.

Bynum, whose district includes Brookside, has held several recent town hall meetings with citizens and has started a quarterly mailer to update his constituents on issues in the district.

A story and photos from the class meeting will be featured later on this site.

Brookside Beat: We're Looking for News in Tulsa

The Brookside Bulletin is an experiment in hyper-local journalism—news about one of Tulsa's most interesting neighborhoods.

If you have a news tip or an idea for a Brookside story, let us know by writing us at this address: john-coward@utulsa.edu.

Carrie Clevenger-Gwartney: Living for the Arts

By Kyra McNamara

It was a quiet afternoon at the Tulsa Ballet building at 45th and Peoria when I met Carrie Clevenger-Gwartney, the box office manager and marketing associate for the Tulsa Ballet. With an easy smile she welcomed me into her office behind the glass-encased ticketing desk.

Carrie, who first moved to Tulsa in 1994, was familiar with the Ballet and the people who worked there, so when a position came open, she eagerly took it. “It is an incredible arts organization, and I’m very proud of it,” Carrie said. With undergraduate and graduate degrees in theater from NSU and ORU respectively, Carrie is excited to be working in the arts here in Tulsa.

Carrie met her husband Nathan in 2001 as his co-star in a production of Grease. They played love interests Rizzo and Kenickie. As it happened, I met her on their 8th anniversary.

The couple’s love of theater is something they have shared over the years. A picture of Nathan from the play Moon Over Buffalo is tacked to the bulletin board beside her desk.

Carrie said that one of her favorite productions she has worked on is a play she directed in graduate school called Coyote on a Fence, pictured at the top left corner of her bulletin board. Even though she loves performing, Carrie said her real love is directing.

“I love pulling together the whole creative process, just conceptualizing it, trying to figure out what you want,” Carrie said. “You take the script and you build on that, build a concept, and I love that process.”

Carrie and her husband are working on putting together an independent production of the Greek play Medea for next summer. As Carrie says, these are the “baby steps” toward the independent theater group she and Nathan are trying to form. The final performance will be in the Tulsa Ballet’s very own Studio K.

It’s been a year and a half since Carrie and her husband moved to their house near 41st and Peoria. She says her favorite thing about living there is being close to everything she needs, from the library, to entertainment, to work. “Right now I’m just enjoying being where I’m at,” says Carrie.

TCC Student Enjoys Her Life in Tulsa

By Drake Allen

At Shades of Brown, a Brookside coffee shop, I met Danielle Jones. She is 19 and a student at Tulsa Community College, majoring in anthropology. She wants to be an archaeologist.

She lives in Midtown Tulsa, not far from Brookside. Her family owns three smoke shops, and she is employed at Best Buy.

One of Danielle’s hobbies is belly dancing. She also enjoys riding her long board on the weekends and meeting new people. She played sports all the way through high school.

“If I could have one wish, it would be a scholarship to play at a prestige volleyball program somewhere in Texas,” Danielle said.

“I come to this same coffee shop every Thursday by myself to do my homework and to think peacefully by myself," she said.

Danielle loves to go shopping with her girlfriends, especially at Utica Square.

She enjoys various types of music but her favorites are Tom Petty, Beatles, and Kings of Leon. Danielle plans to be in Tulsa for a while, but would like to take her life out of Oklahoma at some point.

Brookside: Tulsa's Best Place for the Young

By Jamad Williams

Tamara Mayhew, 27 is a resident of Brookside who works at Cingular Wireless by day and lives it up in Brookside by night.

She speaks highly of the upscale area that lies in the heart of Tulsa.

“Brookside is the best place for a young mind," Tamara said. "It’s a place of adventure, entertainment and cuisine. It’s also a place where businesses can flourish and grow because of the diversity.”

Diverse is the perfect word to describe this neighborhood. Within feet of each other are restaurants, bars, bistros, Starbucks, the new Wolfgang Puck restaurant and more. It’s like a mini New Orleans, done the Tulsa way.

“I grew up in small country town called Nowata, Oklahoma. about an hour from Tulsa," Tamara said. "When I was younger I remember Brookside being like Disneyland to me. I’ve had a lot of fun times out here and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.”

“The appearance of Brookside is also another appeal that attracts residents to the area," she said. "Although there are quite a few businesses packed along the strip, the area looks really kept up and taken care of.”