SAPULPA, Okla. — The Route 66 Christmas Chute started as an opportunity to draw in more customer traffic to Sapulpa businesses and the idea has surpassed all expectations.
“It’s so nice to see that your hometown is like doing things... you know, to keep improving yourself. I think that Sapulpa is really having a moment in that," Megan Zaitshik of Sapulpa said.
Zaitshik and her family stopped by Monday to celebrate Christmas.
“This really gets us into the Christmas spirit, and you know, today is our Christmas with our family," she said. "It’s the day after Christmas, but it’s still Christmas for us. It’s nice that we can come out here and enjoy it."
The Zaitshik family is not the only one who got in the Christmas spirit. Local barista Tanner Johnson said the chute has brought people from near and far.
“It’s brought in a lot of new people, I’ve seen people from Texas, Kansas, Missouri, just all over the state, just coming in to see the Christmas Chute," Johnson said.
Even with more than two years of planning and more than $800,000 in fundraising, the idea has surpassed all expectations, including a feature on the Today Show's "Merriest Main Street" segment.
Mark Lawson, Director of Economic Development for the City of Sapulpa said creating the chute came with risk.
He said they closed off a section of Main Street for pedestrian safety — something Lawson said caused traffic disruption for some businesses in the area, but he said for most businesses this Christmas wonderland has paid off.
“They like all the little shops, seeing everything, checking everything out, seeing all the people, and just taking all the photos they can, all the cool photo ops that we have," Johnson said. “It has brought in a lot more business. We’ve seen three record-breaking weekends in a row.”
Lawson said they expect to know the final sales tax numbers by late January and he anticipates this to become an even bigger tradition in the years to come. If you have not experienced it yet, the chute is open until Jan. 1.
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