Mayfest Kicks Off with Art, Music, and Community Spirit – News On 6

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Friday, May 9th 2025, 12:04 pm
Mayfest has opened in the Tulsa Arts District, showcasing a vibrant blend of art, food, and music. Randi Hatley and her friend Debbie Turley took advantage of the beautiful spring weather to enjoy the festival.
„We are just kind of looking to see what there is,“ said Hatley. „You never know what you might find here. There is a lot of artistic people.“
The festival started with a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Mayor Monroe Nichols and University of Tulsa President Brad Carson, unveiling a new mural titled ‚Living on Tulsa Time.‘
The mural created by Raygen Treat and Kayley Giacomo of Hightail Creative Company is intended to pay tribute to the city’s vibrant culture, musical heritage, and artistic community.
Festival goers can enjoy:
Notable headliners include Grammy winner Mýa and local talent Kaitlin Butts.
Several of the art vendors also have Oklahoma ties, including Jennifer Fisher, a fine artist based in Choctaw, and Gregg Standridge, a wood inlay artist from Norman.
Stories Behind The Art
This year is both of these artists‘ first time at Mayfest. „I am just excited to showcase my work and to try to peek at others while I am working,“ said Fisher. Her craft happened by accident.
Fisher loved to paint, and on a 16-hour road trip to the beach, boredom struck. Since she could not paint in the car, Fisher took a bag of fabric and tried hand-stitching a painting.
Now, she creates pieces in between homeschooling her two sons. „Oftentimes when I am stitching or painting, I am stopping and I am helping with science, and then I stitch, and then I stop and help with math, and then I stitch,“ Fisher added.
However, her art is often mistaken for paintings until customers take a closer look. Fisher said, „I have had to make signs that say fiber art and look closer to get people to understand that it is more than paint.“
Standridge has similar signs at his Mayfest booth. „A lot of people kind of jaw drop at it because they just do not realize,“ he continued saying, „They think it is a painting and there is nothing wrong with painting, but to look at all the pieces that we make and see the real fine detail I do with this is pretty good when you get to see it up close.“
Standridge started the business four years ago with his wife, Becky Standridge-Feldman. They use 50 different types of wood, and each piece takes about 6 hours. „We do hand-cut wood pieces out of real thin wood veneers,“ he said. „It is very much like master furniture work, but we just make artwork with it.“
Mayfest is a free event. The festival runs from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Mother’s Day. For more information and a full schedule, visit the festival website.
David Prock is a digital content producer for Griffin Media and is a regular contributor to both News9.com and NewsOn6.com.
Alyssa joined the News On 6 team as a multimedia journalist in January 2023. Before that, Alyssa anchored 13 NEWS This Morning and told Northeast Kansans stories as a reporter for WIBW-TV. In her four years there, she won several Kansas Association of Broadcasters awards for her anchor and reporter work.
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