Way Park Amphitheater - Drumright, OK
Posted by: 
hamquilter
N 35° 59.382 W 096° 36.220
14S E 716023 N 3985461
This amphitheater was built by the WPA in 1935-36 and was the focal point of Drumright entertainment during the difficult Depression days.
Waymark Code: WMZMRZ
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 12/03/2018
Views: 2
Way Park is located on the north side of Broadway about a block west of the downtown area. This is a two-block area, constructed in 1935 by the WPA. The park is named for Fred Way, a civic leader in the early 1930's.
The amphitheater is located on the north side of the park, accessed on N. Morrow Avenue. This rock amphitheater once provided live entertainment to a economically downtrodden community during the 1930's. The seating on the grass hill has been removed. In town, at 138 E. Broadway is a nice mural showing the amphitheater as it was used in the past, with hundreds of Drumright citizens enjoying the show.
A plaque at the mural in downtown indicates that there were summer
Thursday night programs supported by the community which saw a
desperate need for free entertainment in the dark days of the Great Depression. Two Zigfield Follies entertainers, Fernette Ashwell and Alene Hart, left the glamorous life of the Ziegfield Follies to make their fortune in the boomtown of Drumright, Oklahoma. They performed as a comedy and dance team, and established a dance studio which provided free entertainment at the Way Park amphitheater for more than twenty years.