El Reno will again celebrate holding the record for the world’s largest onion burger at the 36th Annual Fried Onion Burger Day Festival on May 4.
The day-long affair runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and continues a tradition that brings an estimated 25,000 people downtown.
The event is free and open to the public.
Although grilling and eating an 850-pound onion burger is the festival’s main draw, there will be lots to see in the six-block area.
The Burger Day Festival is a tribute to the fried onion hamburger, cooked daily in El Reno since the early 1900s.
It’s the burger that has helped make the community a destination for food lovers and those trekking along historic Route 66.
It’s not uncommon to hear languages such as French or German being spoken in El Reno’s three main “burger joints,” Johnnie’s, Robert’s or Sid’s.
Jason Young was born in Edmond and currently resides in Yukon. He started his musical career working for Nashville recording artists Ty England, Chad Brock and Cledus T. Judd.
Young formed the Jason Young Band in 2017. The band is made up of Chandler Austin on drums, Mike Myers on bass, David Short on fiddle, harmonica and lap steel, Brandon Brackett on lead guitar and Pat Goldsby, tour manager.
The Jason Young Band has released five singles to Texas Radio: Long Way Home, The Moment, Under My Skin, Vinyl and Poor, all charted in the Texas Radio Top 30.
How to Cook the Big Burger from Gretchen Fryar’s second-grade class at Rose Witcher:
Do you want to learn how to cook the huge hamburger on Burger Day? Step 1. Get your batter and mix it. Step 2. Grab 130 pounds of meat. Step 3. Get 90 pounds of lettuce. Step 4. Get the grill and put the buns on there and cook the burger. Step 5. Eat the burger like a fly and nibble it.
Jett Smith
History pays, especially history that attracts tourism dollars. Last week the city learned it had been awarded a grant of more than $1.2 million by the Oklahoma Route 66 Commission. The funds will be used to transform the eyesore of an old service station at 120 S. Choctaw into what’s expected to be a tourism magnet.
City Manager Matt Sandidge told the audience at the El Reno Now gathering, the restoration project will create an attraction that both local residents as well as the entire state of Oklahoma “can be proud of.”
Cheyenne and Arapaho artists are well-represented in “Into the Mirror,” which opened March 30 at the Oklahoma History Center. The exhibit features 20 Native artists whose works are part of the museum’s permanent collection.
The earliest work in the exhibit was created by Cheyenne artist Buffalo Meat in 1878 while imprisoned at Fort Marion in Florida.
El Reno High School student Brailyn Phiefer makes a few glamour poses as she walks the red carpet leading into the EHS prom last week in downtown El Reno.
The theme for this year's event was “The Golden Gala.”
See additional photos in an upcoming edition.
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the conviction of Derek Don Posey, a man convicted in 2019 for the rape and murder of a young woman, and the murder of her 5-year-old son in the fire he set to cover the crime scene.
Posey was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Amy Gibbins, 22, and her son, Bryor, 5. The young mother and her son were killed inside their home in Calumet.
The Canadian County Health Department will host a Pool School Class for community members interested in pool safety and maintenance from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, May 2 at Mustang Parks and Recreation, 1201 N. Mustang Road.
This class provides essential insights into maintaining pool safety standards and ensuring the well-being of pool users and the community. Attendees will learn from industry experts and gain valuable knowledge to elevate their pool safety practices.
As has often been the case in recent sessions of the Oklahoma Legislature, a primary area of difference in House and Senate budget negotiations involves common education funding.
To that end, the two chambers are around $115 million apart on crafting the State Department of Education budget for Fiscal Year 2025, but both proposals are relatively flat compared to last year’s historic increase.
