Stillwater braces for historic crowds for ‘The Boys from Oklahoma’ concert

Stillwater is expected to see some of the biggest crowds ever for a music festival this weekend.

Cross Canadian Ragweed and the Turnpike Troubadours are just some of the headliners performing at Boone Pickens Stadium.

The shows will raise NIL money for Oklahoma State.

45,000 people plan to pack the stadium each of the four nights. It’s a show that many coming to Stillwater are eager to see. Businesses around town are preparing for crowds of their own.

There’s no crowd inside Boone Pickens Stadium for the mic checks, but this stadium will be packed for the real thing.

The turf is taken over by sound equipment, and a massive stage sits in the end zone. Outside the arena, there’s plenty of preparation happening too.

“That’ll be stocked all the way to the top,” said the manager of the Dirty Rooster, Dan Jackson.

The Dirty Rooster is the newest bar on The Strip near campus. This week is already bringing back old memories for Jackson.

“I remember Cross Canadian, Great Divide—it was before the Troubadours were even together—playing in all the local bars here on The Strip,” he said.

Jackson says the last two weeks have been centered around getting ready to serve the massive crowds.

“You think of a homecoming game when there’s 200,000 people here, and then you add Bedlam, where there’s 100,000 people, and you plan on that for five nights in a row,” he said.

Cristy Morrison with Visit Stillwater knows the legacy of these artists and how red dirt music is ingrained in the town’s identity.

She thinks this event will be the biggest she’s seen in her 30 years on the job.

“We’ve had calls from at least 15, 25 different states of people coming in,” she said. “Folks that went to college here that want to come back, they’re having their own little mini reunions.”

Morrison has sent a heads-up to businesses around town, telling them to stock up on extra inventory. She says it will be hard to find a hotel room within a 60-mile radius of campus because of the large crowds.

The first night kicks off inside Boone Pickens Stadium on Thursday. Tickets are sold out.

Information on the concert, parking ➡️ The Boys from Oklahoma sold-out shows: What to know