During the recent event, Roughstock.com spent some time with Mrs. Sellers, and found that the free-to-the-public event is something that both she and husband Rick look forward to greatly!
“It is indeed,” she says. “We enjoy it so much. It’s exhausting, but we love it. Rick is an inspiration to us all. He motivates us and gets us going, and gets us moving. We see his joy in it, so we just all want to make him happy.”
She explains that opening the celebration up for the area is very important to the couple. “Our city has not been able to do a July 4 celebration the past few years because of economics,” she said. “Everybody in the community in the oil patch has stepped in, and made it a wonderful experience for us all. So, it isn’t just us, it’s everyone in this beautiful community, and we love it even more.”
When told that Rick said many described the Festival as the “Company party went awry,” she smiled and said “That’s exactly right. We have a couple of companies, Keystone Gas, and Southwest Petroleum, which is the production side, while Keystone is the pipeline side. We started combining our company parties and having them here. It started off with just the companies, then our customers, and then our producers. Then, one day Rick says ‘You know, we do a really good job at this. Why not open it up to the entire community and embrace all of our people. That’s what we are around here---a huge, monstrous family, and we love it.”
Though the event is something that she loves, at first she admits she had her doubts concerning pulling off the event that Rick had envisioned. That show featured '60s star B.J. Thomas as the headliner. “I was terrified,” she confirms. “I really was. I asked him ‘How many people do you expect?” He looked at me and said a couple…thousand, for the first year! That’s exactly what it was.” It hasn’t stopped growing. “I guess we had about 2,500 to 3,000 that first year. Then, we had about 4,500 the next year. In 2010, we counted about 7,500, but there was more than that because we couldn’t count the ones that came in from the back. There was rain, and there was no parking left. People wanted to come in, and that was wonderful,” she says, ever glowing.
The 2010 Summer Oil Patch Festival, which featured legendary Classic Rock act Head East was memorable, because of a rain shower that took place during the day. That made it all the more fun for those on four-wheelers and trucks in the mud! “It did indeed,” she said. “We had our FBLA kids, which is our sports kids right here in the community. They were so cute because they pulled people out of the ditches, and the pasture. This is a cow pasture, after all, so it got muddy and slick. But, they moved everybody along. But, there were no problems. We keep security around, just in case we need them.”
And, then there’s the music. Of the 2011 edition, Sellers said “The line-up this year was probably the most exciting ever. Shawna Russell, of course--every time I have heard her, she just keeps getting better. We sponsored her video, ‘Should’ve Been Born With Wheels” which was shot mostly on our ranch and around Drumright. We have such a good time with her. We love her. Shawna and Bo Phillips have appeared at the festival every year. This year we also had the Flat River Band, LiveWire, and Ricochet of course. We just had a great time.”
At the end of the day, Myrna says that she and Rick love being able to make the day special for so many. “We do, indeed. We get a lot of love back from the community. They appreciate it. It’s not like we’re doing this just to be doing something. We have plenty to do, but we enjoy it so much, and the community enjoys it so much. We love it. If we couldn’t do this, I don’t know what we’d do. Something else, I guess….”
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