Fox 23 investigation: Tulsa fair board planning skyride demolition since 2019

Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority, also known as the Fair Board, has been discussing demolition of the historic Expo Square skyride since 2019, according to open-records research by Fox 23 reporter Spencer Humphrey, presented in a report on the July 7, 2022, newscast. (The text version of the story is available on KRMG's website.) Humphrey ran into some obstacles in getting TCPFA's public records:

Expo Square normally posts TCFPA [sic] meeting minutes to its website, but stopped doing that after February 2021. Expo Square officials told FOX23 they stopped posting TCPFA minutes online because of COVID-related staff reductions. But they continued to post meeting agendas.

So FOX23 requested meeting minutes and emails between officials about the Skyride. In an April 2021 email FOX23 obtained from Expo Square's CEO Mark Andrus to then-Tulsa County Commissioner Ron Peters, Andrus lists "Skyride removal" on a "list of 20+ projects" he said Expo Square had to do.

To find out more details, FOX23 asked all the officials involved for an on-camera interview. That included Expo Square CEO Mark Andrus, Expo Square COO Amanda Blair, Tulsa County Commissioners Karen Keith and Stan Sallee, former Tulsa County Commissioner Ron Peters and former Tulsa County spokesperson Jarrel Wade. Blair was the only one who responded and agreed to do an interview.

TCPFA emails from May, when reports of the Skyride's impending demolition reached public attention, point to a plan to go through the motions of an auction and then to proceed as intended to demolition, in defiance of public sentiment to save one of the last such skyrides in the country.

In a May 12 email, then-Tulsa County spokesperson Jarrel Wade emailed county commissioners that he would be "coordinating with Mark Andrus and his team and meeting with them tomorrow morning to learn where this came from."

Then Wade wrote he would tell news media that to his knowledge, "there has been no recent decision or action by the Tulsa County Commissioners and the TCPFA in regard to the Skyride."

The next morning, on May 13, Wade said in an email, "The plan going forward is to offer the Skyride for sale ... A sale has a potential to save expo money and preserve the ride ... a win/win ... if no bids come in, Expo should be able to keep their previous schedule."

FOX23 asked Blair what she thought Wade meant by "previous schedule."

"The Skyride demolition has been on our list since 2019," Blair said.

FOX23 also asked "When did the aspect of auctioning it come about?"

"I'm not certain when it specifically came about," Blair said.

We asked why the public wasn't notified about the plans about the Skyride until May.

"It's definitely not something that was not talked about publicly," Blair said. "It's been discussed in public meetings as well."

But FOX23 looked through TCPFA meeting minutes and records but couldn't find any specific mention of the plan to demolish or auction off the ride.

The mention of Jarrel Wade caught my ear. Wade was a Tulsa World reporter for over 8 years, covering local government. According to Jarrel Wade's LinkedIn profile, after leaving the World, he became a Senior Account Executive for Tulsa Regional Chamber, then spent two years as Communications Project Manager for Tulsa County. Just this month, he left the county role to become Communications and Development Coordinator for Housing Solutions. While I generally had a good impression of his reporting for the World, I have to wonder how, in a shrinking job market for journalists, the prospect of someday needing to find a job doing PR for one of the government agencies and non-profits you're covering would affect your reporting.

In November 2000 and on several other occasions, Tulsa County taxpayers have voted for tens of millions of dollars in funding for fairgrounds improvements. I don't think voters would have been as generous had they known the Fair Board would slowly erase many of the landmarks that held memories for generations of Tulsans -- Bell's Amusement Park, the Exchange and Youth Buildings (with the stage that hosted the annual KTUL talent show, beauty pageants, and telethons), Driller Stadium, the Children's Barnyard, and now the skyride -- history swept away for the sake of being able to market X square feet and Y parking spaces as a blank canvas for event tenants.

There is a website devoted to the fight to save the Tulsa Von Roll Skyride, with a page detailing the ride's construction and history and ideas for increasing ridership and revenue.

Scotty Martin, who is producing a documentary on the history and demise of Bell's Amusement Park, has been covering the proposed demolition of the skyride on his documentary's Facebook page.

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The KELi satellite was another Fairgrounds landmark unceremoniously discarded by the Fair Board It served as studios for KELi 1430 for many years and was a conveniently visible meeting place on the midway during the Tulsa State Fair. It was originally a viewing platform for National Supply during the International Petroleum Exposition. Other components from that exhibit -- the globe and the light standards -- were reused at Bell's Amusement Park.

A 1964 souvenir, posted to the web by Chris Miyata, shows the Tulsa County Fairgrounds as Tulsans remember it from the last third of the 20th century. It's a twelve-page program from the 15th anniversary award dinner of the Tulsa Exposition and Fair Corporation, held in the fairgrounds cafeteria on June 25, 1964. Photos show the evolution and expansion of the fairgrounds since the board was established in 1949 (over 512,000 sq. ft. of new building space).

• 1949: Two new 30' x 200' horse barns commissioned in July, costing $18,000, to be ready by September 15.
• 1950: $112,000 raised in June and July for 13 new livestock exhibit facilities, ready for the fair by September 15, 1950.
• 1951: 47' x 400' curtain wall on old grandstand, without support, removed and replaced with signboards.
• 1952: Five new livestock bays to the west of original 13, built for $54,000.
• 1953: $610,000 county bond issue for new agricultural building office, new 4-H/FFA dormitory. Five horse barns moved in line with other livestock buildings, milking parlor, and four new livestock bays added.
• 1954: Fair claimed to be fastest growing in the nation.
• 1955: Six more bays added to livestock building.
• 1956: National Junior Tractor Operators Contest established.
• 1957: Controversy over conflicting fair dates with Oklahoma City and Muskogee.
• 1958: June 8: Old grandstand burned to the ground, destroying 64,000 sq. ft. of commercial exhibit space and disrupting auto racing from June to August.
• 1959: New 80' x 800' commercial exhibit building near the race track, paid for by $200,000 insurance and $70,000 fair earnings.
• 1960: Oklahoma FFA Children's Barnyard opened.
• 1963: $3.5 million bond issue approved to build 456,000 sq. ft. building for the International Petroleum Exposition and other industrial shows.
• 1964: New administrative office, first unit of 1963 long range building plan, to be completed.

The online collection includes a photo of the IPE building near completion (also showing KELi Satellite, Pavilion, and Bell's Amusement Park).