DUNCAN BANNER (Oklahoma) 13 April 07 Ssssnakes ssspotlight Waurika (Jeff Kaley)

Waurika: According to Chamber of Commerce President Brad Scott, the Fangtastic Waurika Rattlesnake Hunt “gives people an opportunity to see Waurika and puts a spotlight on our town.”

But after 45 years of being in the spotlight, has the annual snake hunt — and the three-day festival that accompanies it — dimmed the vision of the folks who live here 365 days a year?

“I do think we take it for granted, because we’re used to it,” said Mayor Gayle Johnson.

Ah, human nature. Sometimes, something that becomes a constant can also become commonplace.

Still, that doesn’t mean that Waurika won’t be putting its best foot forward Friday through Sunday, when the Fangtastic Waurika Rattlesnake Hunt makes its 46th run.

Waurikans may be used to it, but the rattlesnake weekend is the community’s single-most important event of each year. Not only have proceeds from the hunt helped make the Waurika Fire Department one of the best equipped volunteer departments in Oklahoma, the economic watershed snakes provide the city keeps its residents from taking it for granted.

“It brings in a whole lot of visitors who might not otherwise come to Waurika,” Johnson said. “It generates a lot of commerce for our hospitality businesses, and it’s been a very lucrative thing for our community.”

It’s difficult to put a dollar figure on the total revenue the weekend provides, but there’s no doubt a variety of local businesses would be dismayed if the snake hunt ceased to exist.

“I remember at an economic seminar, they said that for every dollar you spend to put on something like the snake hunt, it will turn over six times the revenue,” said Waurika Superintendent of Schools Roxie Terry, a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

Weather permitting, there should be quite a “turn over” again during the 46th Fangtastic event, because there will be plenty happening.

Guided snake hunts begin Saturday morning and continue throughout the day. A variety of contests result from those forays into snake country to the southwest of town, and hunters can also sell their catches.

James White and the Outlaw Handlers will be performing in the pit at the hunt headquarters throughout the weekend, and the Butcher Shoppe will be open for business.

There will be carnival rides and the midway will also be lined by dozens of vendors. Businesses will have special sales and there will be garage sales on nearly every street in town.

It’s a long but lucrative celebration of serpents that may be commonplace after 46 years, but no one’s suggesting there shouldn’t be a 47th Fangtastic Waurika Snake Hunt!

Snakey Notes

- Tonight is wristband night at the Sam’s Amusement Carnival. It starts at 6 p.m. On Saturday and Sunday, the carnival kicks off at about 10 a.m.

- Snake hunt caravans will be held at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

- Early this week, there had been no decision on who would replace J.R. Cronin as announcer for the festivities. Cronin, who was an omni-present figure for years on hunt weekend, died Jan. 1.

“We don’t have anyone yet to do the announcing, but we’ll find someone,” Sherry England, one of the weekend organizers, said. “It’s not going to be easy replacing him, because J.R. lived for (the hunt weekend). He was the main man.”

- After a slow start, the volume of snakes being brought to the Fire Department’s Butcher Shoppe picked up last weekend. Fire Chief Chuck Brown reported Monday about 1,500 pounds of snakes were slithering around hunt headquarters.

- After several years of being inactive, a snake sacking contest returned to the event lineup last year. Those up to the challenge will get another opportunity to stuff a burlap sack with diamondbacks this weekend.
Ssssnakes ssspotlight Waurika

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