Free for all

The best things in life (and in Tulsa) don't cost a dime. We present 100+ cost-free things to see and do in Tulsa from now until the beginning of summer.

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Ah, the power of free. The possibilities are vast and unceasing when no one is asked to part with tokens otherwise saved for room or board in exchange for culture or community. We created this guide as a path to independence not only from your pocketbook, but also from the gilded barriers that divide us. Use it to find your fun – there’s at least one fun, free activity for each day between now and the first day of summer, more than 100 in all – and use it, if you dare, to find your service. Who knows, before the solstice arrives, you might find they’re one and the same.

APRIL

April 2 // For exactly $0, hear from Kasey St. John, Tulsa Young Professionals Urbanists Crew Leader, and Isaac Rocha, TYPros Chair, about the latest details on the annual (and also free) Street CReD event, a program that reveals the potential of community redevelopment by staging an afternoon of pop-up shops and free activities in neighborhoods that have seen better days. This year, south downtown gets the love. Find the April meeting of kNOW Your Tulsa at Foolish Things Coffee  Company, 1001 S. Main Street. (Learn more about Street CReD on May 4 of this timeline.)

April 3 // They’ll want to see your tickets at the gate when you head to ONEOK Field for peanuts and Crackerjack and the Tulsa Drillers, but it won’t cost you or the kids a dime to see the opening-night parade. Beginning at 6:15 p.m. at OETA Tulsa and ending at the Oil Derrick Entrance at Elgin and Archer.

April 4 // On your rounds at the First Friday Art Crawl in Tulsa’s Brady District, stop by 108 Contemporary at Members Only, an exhibition featuring the work of local artisans and artists in ceramics, wood, metal, and other materials. Admission is free and open to the public. (More to see as part of First Friday at thebradyartsdistrict.com.) If you have the kids, head next to the I AM Yoga Studio in the Pearl District, which hosts featured artists and live music every first Friday.

April 5 // The bouncy castle, live music, chalk art, and fun are free at the K-Dub Food Truck Festival in Tulsa’s historic Kendall Whittier District, centered on Admiral and Lewis, and there will be plenty of food on hand for purchase once you work up an appetite. Hours are noon-5 p.m. If the road is calling, head to Locust Grove for the first-ever Poetry Festival at the Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry, a celebration of the written word housed in an old machine shop. The festival includes museum tours, poem treasure hunting, a poetry parade, live music, and more.

April 6 // Guthrie Green, downtown Tulsa’s most popular green space and home of dozens of free events this spring and summer, opens for the 2014 season, kicking off with the perennial Sunday Market, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., followed by live performances from Oklahoma artists – we’re talking The Erica James Band, Tequila Songbirds, and EH3 (Eric Himan Trio) until 6 p.m.

April 7 // If you can’t wait until July for fireworks, head south for the annual Azalea Festival in Muskogee’s Honor Heights Park, free, open to the public, April 1-30. The 40 acres of landscaped gardens filled with dogwoods, redbuds, and 30,000 azaleas in 625 varieties are just as worthy of your camera.

April 8 // Each Tuesday the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame hosts Depot Jams, an open jazz jam featuring local musicians, starting at 5:30 p.m. Admission is always free.

April 9 // Hike Redbud Valley Preserve, a challenge for trail lovers, a haven for rockhounds, and a favorite of bird watchers. On North 161st E. Ave., 3.8 miles north of Highway 44 (directions at oxleynaturecenter.org). Hours are Wednesday-Sunday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Free to see.

April 10 // Calling all science fans: The TU Biological Science Department hosts guest speaker Dr. Lewis H. Ziska, a research plant physiologist who works for the United States Department of Agriculture’s Research Service and specializes in crop systems and global change., for his discussion, “Climate, CO2 and Plant Biology: Exploring the Links to Public Health.” Ziska suggests that pollen allergens such as ragweed thrive in hotter weather, and higher levels of CO2 increase allergens, which extend the allergy season. Free and open to the public, as are most lectures hosted by The University of Tulsa. Helmerich Hall, Room 219, 7 p.m.

April 11 // Go on a virtual tour of Tulsa in the Beryl Ford Photo Collection, available free at tulsalibrary.org. Fancy yourself a history buff? Lend your expertise to the mystery photos in the library’s photo set on Flickr, flickr.com/tulsalibrary. 

April 12 // First, head to the East Village District for the Second Saturday Street Fest, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., free and for all ages. Look for live music, artist booths, street performers, live mural painting, and food trucks with nosh for sale. Find it on Lansing from 2nd to 4th Streets and on 3rd Street from Lansing to Kenosha. eastvillagetulsa.org for more. Other options: Herb Day on Brookside, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., 41st and Peoria; Tulsa Symphony at Guthrie Green at 7:30 p.m.; or watch the Tulsa Rugby Club women’s team take on the team from Houston at 2 p.m. on their field at River Parks, at 37th and Riverside.

April 13 // Flex your green thumb at SpringFest Garden Market and Festival at Tulsa Garden Center, 2435 S. Peoria, April 12-13, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Look for the kids’ area if you’ve got the little ones; food will be available on-site for purchase. Linnaeus Gardeners (more about this on the April 22 entry on this timeline) will be on hand to answer your burning questions about what’s going on in your garden.

April 14 // The main trailhead at Turkey Mountain Wildnerness Area is a mere seven miles from downtown Tulsa. Run and bike for miles. Take the kids, the pups. Use of the trails, and the pretty views of the Arkansas River, are all absolutely free.

April 15 // Local artists are invited to the Henry Zarrow Center for Art and Education, 124 E. M.B. Brady Street, for an open-studio session facilitated by consulting artist Louise Higgs. Participants should bring their own supplies; there is no charge to drop in and work.

April 16 // New issue of The Tulsa Voice! Pairs well with The Brown Bag It series in the Westby Pavilion at Tulsa Performing Arts Center. The Brown Bag It series is a set of six, 40-minute noontime concerts from some of Oklahoma’s finest pro musicians. Today it’s Lorelei Barton & Friends (chamber music with harp); Tallasi (clarinet, horn, and piano) plays on April 2, and Trio Aleszky (a piano trio) plays April 9. Starts at noon; tulsapac.com for more.

April 17 // The AHHA Film Series, hosted in one of downtown Tulsa’s several new art spaces, is always free and open to the public. The next edition, slated for April 17 at 8 p.m., is a screening of “Koyaanisqatsi,” is a celebrated experimental doc that explores the turmoil that often ensues when the worlds of nature and technology collide. The score is by Philip Glass. 101 E. Archer. If you’re feeling artsy, check out Liz Roth’s lecture, also at AHHA, regarding her exhibition there, “Chasm.”

April 18 // Tulsa is home to a vibrant community of geocachers, a.k.a. the folks who can be seen treasure hunting in our parks and our urban landscapes. A quick-start guide: Sign up for a free account at geocaching.com, grab your phone or your GPS-enabled device, find the coordinates to the nearest cache (the beginner caches are highlighted in green, but there are dozens out there for ‘cachers of all levels of experience), and go put your super-spatial skills to the test. Be sure to mind your manners; don’t remove the cache, and be sure to sign the logbook when you succeed.

April 19 // It’s the day before Easter, and the only good and proper thing to do on such a day is dive for over 50,000 eggs thrown from a helicopter. It happens every year as part of the Owasso Egg Drop, which Lifepoint Baptist Church says is “like an Easter Egg hunt, only way cooler.” Find it at Centennial Park in Owasso, at 15301 E. 86th Street North. For kids up to 11 years old. More at lifepointowasso.com. Other options: Butterfly walk at Oxley Nature Center; Jenks Herb & Plant Festival; Hammer Down as part of the ONEOK Concert Series, outside BOK Center before the George Strait concert; and last but certainly not least, Tulsa Roots Music Bash at Guthrie Green, featuring major, internationally touring artists alongside Tulsa’s best local acts plus a kids’ area, Oklahoma-made goodies, and local food, craft beer, and wine.

April 20 // For its monthly Funday Sunday event Gilcrease Museum, at 1400 N. Gilcrease Museum Road, hosts a free Easter egg hunt starting at 2 p.m. Plus, visitors get the chance to try art-making stations in the museum, each offering different materials and themes as well as teaching artists to help guide and inspire. For families with kids ages 3-15. More at gilcrease.tulsa.edu.

April 21 // The Tulsa PAC Gallery, open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. (and during Chapman Music Hall events) and accessible through the Third Street lobby of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center at 110 E. Second St., features new art from artists both near and far every month. Right now it’s the work of five artists as part of the exhibition, “Diversity in Art.” April 1-28.

April 22 // Feed the koi at Linnaeus Teaching Gardens, a demonstration and teaching garden in Woodward Park, open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and, starting Mother’s Day, 1-4 p.m. on Sundays. Linnaeus is staffed by volunteers who are eager to share their knowledge and love of gardening. It’s the best place in town to get quick ideas and advice on what to do in your garden at home. Don’t miss the heirloom vegetable garden.

April 23 // Tulsa’s skatepark game was upped immeasurably a few years ago with the opening of Skatenorth at the intersection of Highway 75 and 56th St N. The 20,000-square-foot, all-concrete park has made the metal ramps of The River Skatepark (which really burn if you fall on them during summer) seem all but obsolete. The good news is that both are free and open to the shredding public daily.

April 24 // The University of Tulsa Opera Theatre, directed by Brady McElligott, presents two comic works, both as free as air: First, an updated version of J.S. Bach’s Coffee Cantata (when a daughter spends all her time and money in the pursuit of expensive lattes, what’s a mother to do? Sung in English, The Latte Cantata will provide an answer to this dilemma…perhaps) and a recreation of the very first made-for-radio opera, Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief. Presented April 23 and 24 at 7:30 p.m. in Meinig Recital Hall.

April 25 // Ever see a sheep turned into a shawl? See it free (though donations are accepted) as part of the annual Woolly Weekend event at Shepherd’s Cross in Claremore, 16792 E. 450 Road. Hours are 10 a.m.- 7 p.m. Don’t leave without a sample of the grass-fed lamb or without following your curiosity into the Bible Garden (an audio tour is available in the tour barn).

April 26 // It’s the final day for the seventh-annual Norman Music Festival, held this year April 24-26 in Sooner Town, USA, featuring the best music acts from far, wide, and around here (past headliners include Broken Arrow’s JD McPherson, Stillwater’s Other Lives, and Tulsa’s own Leon Russell). If you’d rather stay closer to home, see about the Red Fern Festival in Tahlequah, complete with free live music, hound-dog field trials, a car show, a barbeque and chili cook-off, a free-range hand-caught crawdad catch for kids, fern sales (fern sales!), and a screening of the movie, “Where the Red Fern Grows,” the classic by Oklahoma native Wilson Rawls (the Rawls family has been known to show up at the festival). Even closer is the annual Herbal Affair & Festival in downtown Sand Springs.

April 27 // Spend the day scot-free at Guthrie Green, starting first with the weekly Sunday Market, some live music, and some lawn lounging. Stay on for Tulsa Pulse, where free medical testing, health info, and free fitness activities serves as the latest push to improve Tulsa’s deplorable health statistics. Hours for both events are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

April 28 // River Parks offers more than 800 acres of cost-free romping room, plus 26 miles of asphalt trails and 45 miles of dirt trails from 11th Street to 96th Street along both Riverside Drive and the west bank of the Arkansas. There’s something for everyone along the way, including playgrounds, a splash pad, disc golf, fishing on the Pedestrian Bridge, The River Skatepark, River West Festival Park Amphitheater, and Zink Dam.

April 29 // New York Times bestselling author Dorthea Benton Frank visits Tulsa to chat about her latest novel, "The Last Original Wife," a funny and poignant tale of one audacious woman’s quest to find the love she deserves, set against a sultry Atlanta and the magic of the Carolina Lowcountry. Find it at Barnes & Noble, 5231 E. 41st St., at 7 p.m.

April 30 // Quoth the Congregation B’Nai Emunah website: Challah baking continues forever. Every Wednesday night, starting at 5:45 p.m., a small group gathers – old, young, rich, poor, from all corners of life – at the synagogue (at 1719 S. Owasso Ave.) to make bread to take home to bake. Novices are welcome, and there’s never a charge. Call (918) 583-7121 to let them know you’re coming.