Numbers add up for noodling festival

May 15—By Barry Porterfield

A quick look at the numbers shows just how big Pauls Valley's two-day noodling festival is when early summer rolls around.

The planning got started late but it's now in full force for the 24th annual Okie Noodling Tournament set for the weekend of June 14-15.

Former tourism director Becky Ledbetter is continuing to take time away from her work at PV National Bank to again lead a group of committee members focused on a long list of things needed before the fish festival arrives in Wacker Park.

It was Ledbetter who stepped up last week to address members of the Pauls Valley Tourism Board and successfully get their recommendation to add $72,000 in local tourism tax funds to the projected $58,000 raised privately in sponsorships for the upcoming event.

"A lot of people don't understand what it takes to put on an event like this," Ledbetter said.

"This is not a cheap festival. We try to make this the best event that we can. We would hate to lose something so valuable and if we ever do someone else will pick it up and do the things that haven't been done.

"We don't want to lose sight of the event, it's so unique, but we don't want to lose sight that this festival is for Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. Nothing's cheap and we want a good event. We do the best that we can with the funds that we have."

The high costs of the noodling festival are headlined by the bands taking the stage both nights. A couple of years ago that price tag came to around $87,000 followed by $94,000 in 2023.

According to Ledbetter, bands will cost around $76,600 this year, along with another $24,000 for a stage crew tasked with managing the live shows.

Those tunes come to the noodling stage on that Friday night as Catie Offerman, Michael Ray and Grant Gilbert are the scheduled guests.

Something new this year is there will be free parking as gates open at 5 p.m. with the show set to start at 7 p.m.

Tickets of $25 are available online at okienoodling.com or at the gate on the night of the show.

Day two of the event again will feature a variety of activities with the main attraction naturally being the often mammoth catfish, typically in the 60- to 70-pound range, caught by hand as noodlers will spend much of that Saturday afternoon and early evening walking their catch up to the stage for all to see.

After all that Ray and the High Rollers and William Clark Green are featured at a free show set to start at 7 p.m.

Although a specific number was not available, Ledbetter says last year's noodling event brought so many visitors each hotel in Pauls Valley was at "max capacity."

She encouraged tourism board members to continue their support in the future, especially since next year will be a big anniversary of an event that started small before slowly growing over the years.

"It started with the Pig Shop," she said, referring to the parking lot of a local icon, Bob's Pig Shop, which is where the first few Okie Noodling events happened before its popularity forced a move to the much larger Wacker Park.

"I recommend you get on board next year because it's the 25th event. You could downsize it but wouldn't recommend it."