The story of “Oklahoma!” the musical, based on Lynn Riggs’ 1931 play “Green Grow the Lilacs,” is pretty familiar to most people who’ve spent much time in Oklahoma the state.
Two parties, Laurey and Curly, have been sweet on each other for a good while, and then the romance begins to cool a bit. Then there’s some drama for good measure. But just when it looks like all hope is lost, love comes roaring back to win the day.
In a kind of poetic symmetry, it seems that a similar turn of fortune is playing out for Discoveryland — the Sand Springs venue that once was known as “The National Outdoor Home for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘Oklahoma!’”
Discoveryland Ranch — a new wedding and event venue 5 miles west of Oklahoma 97 on 41st Street in Sand Springs — once hosted a wedding several nights each week via the musical "Oklahoma!"
For 36 years beginning in the mid-1970s, audiences from across the world came to Discoveryland’s outdoor amphitheater to be transported back to an Oklahoma just before statehood to watch the love of the farm girl and the cowboy triumph over evil — or at least as close to evil as rural Claremore could muster 116 years ago.
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And they did so in that uniquely Oklahoma environment, where the bugs in the trees sometimes sang as loud as the performers on stage and where the scorching summer sun that melted the traditional Discoveryland ice cream sundaes at 5 p.m. had cooled to a manageably warm summer evening by showtime at 8.
But alas, the love affair cooled. Audiences began to dwindle. The last performance came in 2011, a year of record-setting heat across the Sooner State that made outdoor events of any kind insufferable.
“The last show was kind of in the middle of the summer,” said Jason Shipman, who, with his wife, Kayla Shipman, now owns the renamed Discoveryland Ranch property. “The weather was blazing hot, and attendance was way down.
“Financially, they had been struggling for quite a while, and that was just kind of the nail in the coffin,” he said.
And there’s the drama, just as it was when Jud Fry crashed Laurey and Curly’s wedding, forcing Curly into a fight from which Curly alone walked away.
The newly opened Discoveryland Ranch offers a 5,000-square-foot event center and a host of other amenities for weddings, private parties or corporate events.
But then, love won.
The territory officials ruled that Jud’s death by Curly’s hand was justifiable homicide. There would be no trial.
Laurey and Curly would start their new lives together as a married couple surrounded by hope and happiness.
Like the musical, the Shipmans believe Discoveryland Ranch will have a storybook ending. The couple bought the property in late 2019 and they are now operating it as a wedding, event and entertainment venue 5 miles west of Oklahoma 97 on 41st Street.
“It was in a terrible state of disrepair,” Jason Shipman said. “We hauled off 25 dump-truck loads of trash.”
Of the 525 total acres, only 35 to 40 acres have been developed so far, he said.
“We’re restoring the amphitheater and picnic pavilion,” he said. “There’s still a lot of work to do in the amphitheater.”
An event center is just under 5,000 square feet.
Shipman said they’ve booked about 10 or so weddings for this year, “and the rental fee gives complete use of any of the facilities we have,” including the new timber-frame pavilion.
“It’s very photogenic, and there’s lots of space to spread out,” he said.
“Also, I think we’re very cost-effective compared to other venues in the area. It’s kind of a canvas that people can paint however they want.
“I think the wedding ‘barn look’ is kind of overplayed, so maybe this is more the ‘Texas Hill Country' look.”
Jason and Kayla Shipman bought the property that formerly housed the Discoveryland outdoor amphitheater in 2019.
Shipman, who grew up in Prattville, owns Riverwood Custom Homes. Kayla Shipman is a veterinarian at McKinney Animal Hospital in Sand Springs.
But the Discoveryland venture is an entirely joint project for the couple, who have been married for 22 years.
“My wife’s a good dreamer, and I’m a ‘make-it-happen’ kind of guy,” Jason Shipman said.
Although the couple have been booking quite a few weddings and corporate or private events, reimagining the site as an entertainment venue isn’t off the table, either, he said.
“We’ve been hit up by several concert promoters, and that could be a good thing, but we’re going to go slowly because we want to do it right,” Shipman said.
“We get asked just about daily about ‘Oklahoma!’ We’re going to pursue everything we can to make something happen. It won’t be a full summer, but maybe we can do something.”
Whatever they do, though, they’re looking for happy endings.
“We’re heavily invested in the Sand Springs community,” Shipman said, “so we wanted to make this something to be proud of.”
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June 27, 2022 at 03:30AM
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Reimagined Discoveryland Ranch offers 'Oklahoma!'-style weddings, complete with storybook endings - Tulsa World
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