SAPULPA, Okla. — Downtown Sapulpa looks a little less like Christmas after the Route 66 Christmas Chute closed on New Year's Eve.
For the second year, two and a half blocks of the city's downtown treated thousands of Oklahomans and out of state visitors each night to holiday magic.
Will Berry, a member of the Christmas Chute Committee, said they learned a lot from the inaugural year in 2022. "We wanted to make sure we got better before we got bigger. A lot of people said our Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdays looked like our weekends last year, so, those are our slow days. So our Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sundays were just a ton of people."
On their busiest nights, Berry said anywhere from ten to twelve thousand people walked Dewey Ave., taking in the different themes and spending time under the ornaments diligently hung high above the pathway.
After not fully knowing how far the event would reach last year, the committee made sure to adjust certain elements, like access to restrooms and food, to improve this year's experience.
"Were just wanting people to come to Sapulpa to say 'hey man this is a great town, you’ve got some cool stuff here,'" said Berry. "Hopefully, outside of the Christmas chute, they’re gonna keep coming back because they got to witness some really cool stores, they got to eat at some really good restaurants."
Sherrie Curtis, owner of Isabella's Collection, said that's exactly her experience with the new customers she met through the chute. Over her twenty plus years in business in Sapulpa, this is her first year being right on Dewey Ave.
"The influx of people this year couldn’t be compared to anything we’ve done in the past," said Curtis. "We definitely met a lot of new people, we met people from 30 states and 5 countries so that was really fun."
Curtis, a Sapulpa native, said the past month and a half gave her a newfound sense of hometown pride.
"The Christmas Chute made me very proud to be from Sapulpa because everyone was so excited and so positive about the time they spent here," said Curtis. "It just made me proud and want to do it again."
As far as how business went, the crowds of people visiting the Christmas Chute each night dramatically increased Isabella's Collection's sales. She hoped this years sales would double what she saw last year - by the end of the Chute, Curtis's store saw quadruple what they did in 2022.
The Christmas Chute Committee meets in January to discuss 2024 operations, talking through what worked and what didn't as they look ahead. Next year will look identical to this year's, but year four in 2025 will be different with the city revamping downtown Sapulpa's streetscape.
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