Its roof collapsed, its windows busted, 206 E. Randolph was seen by some as beyond saving, Main Street Enid director Kelly Tompkins said, just a little piece of town begging for a bulldozer. “That’s never my take on buildings,” Tompkins said. It wasn’t Dee Plummer’s take either. Past the rust and rot, he and his colleague, William Hann, saw good bones and a “beautiful” bowstring truss ceiling, Plummer said. A blank slate They bought the [...]

As the tourism arm for the city, Visit Enid has one main objective: Move Enid forward. In 2019, director Marcy Jarrett and communications coordinator Rob Houston are focusing on three ways to reach that objective: conferences, sporting events and film opportunities. This directive comes on the heels of the results from an updated travel research study, based on feedback from a cross-section of resources such as TravelOK.com, Greater Enid Chamber of Commerce, Enid Regional Development Alliance and [...]

A main legislative priority in the state now is education, primary and secondary, and the city of Enid has a stake in both areas, said Greater Enid Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jon Blankenship. Blankenship outlined a busy year for the chamber in 2019, saying this year’s focus is on classroom funding and reduction of student-to-teacher ratio is important to the Chamber because of the number of education institutions — from public and private schools [...]

Although Enid has seen a number of business closures in the last year or so, the city’s economic development continues to trend up as new businesses have become either established or announcing plans to open. “Enid’s no different from any other community in the country in that it had its own share of closings unfortunately. Retail, as everybody understands, is changing drastically,” said Rickey Hayes, the city’s retail consultant. “Retail is changing, and the retailers [...]

Earlier this year, Brent Kisling, executive director of Enid Regional Development Alliance, was selected by newly elected Gov. Kevin Stitt as executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. In that position, Kisling will oversee the operations of the Department of Commerce and will report to the secretary of commerce. He replaced Deby Snodgrass, who served as both executive director and secretary of commerce and tourism for Gov. Mary Fallin. Jan. 14 was Kisling’s last day with [...]

To foster growth locally, Enid Regional Development Alliance is focusing on fun, interim executive director Lisa Powell said. The people want entertainment, Powell said, and the more Enid can provide, the more people will come and the more they will want to stay. “If people love living in Enid, then we are able to better support the growth of our existing companies and can begin recruiting new industry to the area,” Powell said. Billion-dollar goal [...]