Event seeks to bring George #straittomuskogee

Oct. 12—Muskogee fans are putting their hashtags on an effort to bring country music superstar George Strait to town.

In the meantime, fans can enjoy live music, food vendors and an outdoor movie during #straittomuskogee, starting at 4 p.m. Saturday at Depot Green and Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.

Radio personality Ron Stevens of Okie Country 101.1 said the Oklahoma Moon Band will perform on the OMHOF deck. P-N-S Barbecue and Five R Sweets and Treats will bring food trucks.

At 7 p.m. the 1992 George Strait movie "Pure Country" will be shown on a big outdoor screen.

"Country music fans just love it and George Strait fans love it even more," Stevens said.

There will be a George Strait lookalike contest.

"We're going to give away a copy of 'Pure Country' on DVD, and I'm hoping to get a DVD concert of his from 2014 at AT&T Park in Houston," he said. "I have a couple of hats and a T-shirt from him as well."

Stevens said he and his morning show cohost Michelle Fausett came up with the idea.

"I wanted to watch the movie again because I hadn't watched it in a while," Stevens said. "I thought maybe we could watch it at the Roxy, then I thought they do movie night out here so let's do it outside."

Planners then decided to have a George Strait Day featuring live music, vendors and food trucks.

"Then, if we're going to do a George Strait Day, why not at least invite the man himself to the event," Stevens said.

So the station came up with the hashtag #StraittoMuskogee to beckon the singer to town.

"It's only been a couple of months or so, it kind of happened pretty quickly," he said. "If you go on our Facebook page, you can see that we've had some really great invites from people saying 'we're so and so from Muskogee and George, we want you to come to our event."

Stevens couldn't say whether the "All My Exes Live in Texas" singer will actually make it to Muskogee this Saturday.

"I can confirm from reliable sources that George Strait does know about the event, that's all I know," he said, adding that someone at Strait's management office "at least knows what's going on."

"I've been in radio for almost 30 years, so I know some people," Stevens said. "I put some feelers out and said 'hey, if you know somebody who knows anybody who knows George.... ' We've been tagging everything that we do back to his official Facebook page, so I know his people are seeing it."

In case of bad weather, festivities will be held at Muskogee Civic Center, Stevens said.

"It's an old fashioned radio stunt," he said. "My purpose is to bring this town together."