Okemah, Oklahoma - The Legacy (short introductory essay) - Video Script

"If you come into Okemah from the west, cruising on Interstate 40 towards the wilds of Green Country, as you approach, you’ll see three historic water towers standing high above the underlying blanket of treetops.

"The towers aren’t in use anymore, but they mean more than that. They’re iconic to the city and its people. For right there, just below them, is the heart of a neighborhood on streets much like most municipalities in the United States, arranged in squares, numbered and named after trees or famous capitol cities.

"Woody Guthrie, the legend, the activist, the folk singer, was born and raised just down the way from those towers, and just as they tower above and alongside the trees that make up what little canopy Okemah has, so too does the memory of Guthrie stand tall.

“But now, it’s 2019.

"Woody’s long gone but still here; those three water towers long unused but remain a staple …

"The people of this fair and small city hold firm to their person the feeling that right out here in the middle of the plains of this great country, Okemah stands tall like those towers ... stands etched in the minds of those that live here, love here, work here, travel here ... like the memory of Woody.

"It took quite some time to realize it, but before the city could be built up, to soon someday become a place people strive to get to instead of a place they strive to leave -- a case of the small-town blues, leaving apathy in its wake.

"The city’s citizens had to rework their narrative and write their love for this great City of Resources in this tales preface, leaving the remainder of the book’s pages — some filed, some still awaiting the typewriter’s stroke — to tell of a city called Okemah, founded in 1902 before “Oklahoma” was a state.

"The book will tell of a city that grew and grew, not just in size or economically, but most importantly, it grew with the kind of principles, people and pride the winds of adversity will never be able to shake ... like those three towers standing over the trees and Guthrie’s legacy and estate.

"So, here’s to you. Here’s to Okemah, the City of Resources, in this tried and true and always still-tough Okie state.