Editing Chickasha, Oklahoma (section)

==Arts and culture==
[[File:Shannon Springs Park.JPG|thumb|Shannon Springs Park during the Annual Festival of Light]]
[[File:Chickasha Leg Lamp 3-2025.jpg|thumb|Leg lamp statue, in the manner of the leg lamp in '[[A Christmas Story]]', March 2025]]
The city's annual Festival of Light takes place at the {{convert|43|acre|m2|adj=on}} Shannon Springs Park and opens nightly from around Thanksgiving to the end of December. Concessions, carriage rides, pictures with Santa, and shopping are available. The Festival of Light has received many awards over the years including Regional Event of the Year, A.B.A. Top 100 Event, National Top 25 Holiday Event, Festival of the Year, Best Community Festival Event and Best Place to Take Out of Town Visitors. The festival has been featured statewide on ''Discover Oklahoma'', ranked as a Top Place to Visit by Fine Living Network (2004), and designated as an official 2007 Oklahoma Centennial Event. Over 140 businesses and clubs sponsor the event in various ways. The installation of lights in 290 trees, {{convert|8|mi|0}} of walk-ways, bridges, arbors, gazebos and buildings begins in September; however, it takes through March to get the lights taken down and stored away. More than 1,200 volunteers donate time and skill, and now Display Sponsors have reached the 100 mark. The park has over 3.5 million lights, and the crystal pedestrian bridge boasts over 75,000 lights alone. It draws together over a thousand local volunteers and more than 250,000 visitors from across the United States.<ref>[http://www.chickashafestivaloflight.com/history "Festival of Light History,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150101190901/http://www.chickashafestivaloflight.com/history |date=2015-01-01 }} ''Chickasha Festival of Light'', Retrieved January 21, 2015.</ref>

[[File:USAO Troutt Hall.jpg|thumb|alt=A statue of a woman in Native American costume in front of a yellow brick three-story building.|[[Te Ata Fisher|Te Ata]] statue in front of Trout Hall on the USAO campus]]

The [[University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma]] hosts an annual festival, the Spring Triad, which is made up of the Montmartre Chalk Art Festival, the Droverstock music festival, and the Scholastic Meet.<ref>Snyder, Rachel. [http://www.chickashanews.com/news/article_c7a0a918-2052-5fc1-a4bf-c978e6aa9a5f.html " Annual Drover concert begins today,"] ''The Express-Star'', April 3, 2014. Accessed January 28, 2015.</ref><ref>la terra studio. [http://www.chickasha.org/parks/2013_Chickasha_Park_System_Master_Plan_DRAFT_07_31_13.pdf "Chickasha, Grady County, Oklahoma: Park System Master Plan,"]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} ''Chickasha Parks and Recreation Department'', July 24, 2013, p. 13. Accessed January 28, 2015.</ref> The event is held annually on the first Thursday of April.<ref name="USAO-Triad-04-09-14">[http://65.64.85.221/news/spring-triad-events-draw-thousands-usao-campus "Spring Triad Events Draw Thousands to USAO Campus"] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20150129032349/http://65.64.85.221/news/spring-triad-events-draw-thousands-usao-campus |date=January 29, 2015}}, ''University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma'', April 9, 2014. Accessed January 28, 2015.</ref> The art festival is held around the USAO Oval, where over 700 artists compete in a chalk art contest.<ref>Coppernoll, Carrie. [http://newsok.com/usao-sidewalk-chalk-festival-draws-out-creativity-in-chickasha/article/3557841 "USAO sidewalk chalk festival draws out creativity in Chickasha,"] ''NewsOK'', April 13, 2011. Accessed January 28, 2015.</ref><ref>Vollmar, Rob. [http://www.chickashanews.com/news/chalk-art-festival-sends-out-call-to-oklahoma-artists/article_190c2ade-a5cd-11e4-8616-235c080900ab.html "Chalk art festival sends out call to Oklahoma artists,"] ''The Express-Star'', January 26, 2015. Accessed January 28, 2015.</ref> Droverstock features over 12 hours of live music from various bands of all styles and genres.<ref name="Droverstock-2015">[http://www.usao.edu/events/droverstock-2015 "Droverstock 2015,"] ''University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma'', Accessed January 28, 2015.</ref> There are also many vendors, inflatables, and activities associated with the festival.<ref name="Droverstock-2015"/> The Scholastic Meet attracts around 1000 students annually from over 50 Oklahoma counties who compete in academic disciplines such as math, science, music, history, and other subjects.<ref>Snyder, Rachel. [http://www.chickashanews.com/news/article_1a26a305-900d-5823-9c19-3cc280201b95.html "Southmoore takes first at USAO scholastic meet,"] ''The Express-Star'', April 6, 2014. Accessed January 28, 2015.</ref><ref>[http://www.usao.edu/events/usao-scholastic-meet-2015 "Scholastic Meet 2015,"] ''University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma'', Accessed January 28, 2015.</ref> The competition is the largest academic meet in the state. Overall, the day-long event attracts thousands into the community.<ref name="USAO-Triad-04-09-14"/>

The Muscle Car Ranch located on the south edge of Chickasha hosts an annual swap meet and concert, which is held in August. The Ranch, located on {{convert|70|acre|m2}} of a 1900s dairy farm, features hundreds of nostalgic advertisements and memorabilia representing the last 75 years of American history.<ref>Krebs, Michelle. [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/automobiles/collectibles/20museums-deep-south.html?_r=0 "Auto Museums in the Deep South ,"] ''The New York Times'', February 20, 2008. Accessed January 28, 2015.</ref> The concert has featured rock and roll groups such as [[The Byrds]], [[The Grass Roots]], [[Paul Revere & the Raiders]], [[Jefferson Airplane]], [[The Lovin' Spoonful]], [[Firefall]], [[John Conlee]], [[Dr. Hook]] and [[Bad Company]].<ref>Austerman, Lisa. [http://newsok.com/muscle-car-ranchs-auto-motorcycle-swap-meet-is-family-event/article/2511096 "Muscle Car Ranch's Auto, Motorcycle Swap Meet Is Family Event,"] ''NewsOK'', August 13, 1995. Accessed January 28, 2015.</ref><ref>[http://www.chickashanews.com/sports/okie-noodling-championship-saturday-at-muscle-car-ranch/article_120d200d-c7fe-5fb6-9c18-b88a99b2ae8e.html "Okie Noodling Championship Saturday at Muscle Car Ranch,"] ''The Express-Star'', July 9, 2011. Accessed January 28, 2015.</ref>

From a small local swapmeet, the Chickasha Pre-war Swap Meet has evolved to be one of the significant swapmeets for owners and collectors of cars from before 1942 (World War II). According to numerous posts in the forum of the Model T Club of America, the Chickasha Pre-war Swap Meet is considered the best Ford Model T swapmeet in the US.<ref>[http://www.pwsm.com Pre-War Swap Meet Pre-War Swap Meet]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100226033951/http://www.pwsm.com/ |date=February 26, 2010 }}, Accessed January 21, 2015.</ref>