IMPORTANT: The 2nd Annual Wonder City Wordfest will take place April 14, 2018. Details coming soon! Below are the details for the first Wordfest from 2017.
The First Annual Wonder City Wordfest was a great success. In 2017, instead of a 4th annual ROMPfest, ROMP partnered with Wonder City Coffee for the first annual Wonder City Wordfest, a celebration of poetry and of all things word: storytelling, books, recipes, plays.
The celebration included activities and events at both ROMP and Wonder City Coffee in downtown Locust Grove, which in its early days was called the Wonder City of the Grand River Valley.
Festivities included the following:
- Poetry Parade from Wonder City Coffee to ROMP
- Release of the Wonder City Coffee Cookbook
- Pastry and Poetry Competition
- Local authors with books to sell and sign
- Awards ceremony for the winners in the Oklahoma Poem Contest.
- Story and poetry games
- All-day word art activity
- Storytelling competition
- Poem recitation competition
- Museum & labyrinth tour
- POEM LIFE performance
Lora Collier, 2nd place, OK Poem Contest, Adult category
Angela Loyd, 3rd place, OK Poem Contest, Adult Category
Max Cunningham, 3rd place, OK Poem Contest, K-5th grade category
Callie Langerman, 2nd place, OK Poem Contest, 6th-8th grade category
SCHEDULE (Download and print a copy here)
9:00-10:00 a.m.: Table-Telling
Have some coffee and sit around a table and tell a story. Informal gathering.
9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.: WORD-Art Activity
Enjoy a fun activity for all ages that involves the use of words and art to produce a fun product.
9:30-11:00 : Story & Poetry Games
Gather for a fun workshop for all ages that will introduce people to the power and enjoyment of words used in storytelling and poetry.
10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.: Author/Book Fair
Come celebrate the power of the written word by visiting with local authors and buying their books, too!
11:00 a.m.-Noon: Poetry Recitation Competition
A gathering of contestants reciting poetry. Get involved or just come to enjoy.
Noon-2:00 p.m.: Pastry & Poetry Competition
Sample the pastries that will be competing for a prize of $200 and WCC gift cards. Cast your vote for the best pastry. Write a poem about one of the pastries and win the poetry prize!
1:00-1:15 p.m.: Wonder City Cookbook Talk/Slide-Show
Come hear about the Wonder City Coffee Cookbook and watch a slide show of some great local folks drinking and eating. Roxann Yates will provide the talk and have the cookbooks for sale.
2:30-4:30: Poetry Parade to ROMP
Join the bus on a poetry parade out to the Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry, where you can tour the new exhibit and also walk the Poetry Pasture Labyrinth.
5:00-6:00 : Storytelling Competition
Storytellers will perform during this hour. Come tell a story or be in the audience to enjoy this oldest of the literary arts.
6:00-6:30: WordFest Awards Ceremony & Celebration
Awards for the Oklahoma Poem Contest will be given out, along with other awards for contests throughout the day. Free cake!
7:00-8:30: POEM LIFE performance
Enjoy ROMP director Shaun Perkins’s one-woman show POEM LIFE, an interactive, multi-media experience of the crimes of poetry.
April is National Poetry Month and what better way to celebrate it than with other folks at the Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry.
Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry 