A leg up on business; Downtown traffic is way up a year after Chickasha’s Leg Lamp first lit up
CHICKASHA, Okla. (KFOR) — A walk down Chickasha Avenue downtown isn’t so much a victory lap for Chamber of Commerce Director Jim Cowan as a chance to stretch his legs in a city that seems quite taken with at least one leg these days.
“Everything is changed now,” he beams while stepping briskly across a busy street.
This part of town ending at the old Rock Island Depot was largely vacant as little as 10 years ago, but these city blocks are finding their footing in 2023, 40 years after “A Christmas Story” premiered and made leg lamps featured in the movie famous.
Cowan claims, of Chickasha’s Leg Lamp, “So many people are driving hundreds, even thousands, of miles out of their way.”
We were there in October 2023, when it took two cranes to put the giant lamp shade on just right.
The project to install a 50-foot-tall leg lamp sculpture still had its detractors, but this Christmas season the numbers are already in.
He argues, “We recognized that not everybody liked it, but the number of people who don’t like it grows less and less every day.”
Downtown visitors increased nearly 27%.
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Retail sales, citywide, are way up.
Overnight stays are up as well, and people like Cowan are insisting some of that increase in traffic is due to the lamp shining bright.
The numbers are one thing, but business owners like Brandi Terry didn’t need statistics to tell her about the extra onion fried burgers or cold beer she was selling at Brandi’s Bar and Grill.
“It’s amazing to see how much traffic the leg has actually brought in,” Brandi said.
This summer, when the old freight office opened up next to the lamp itself, Whitney Palesano and her husband opened Downtown Mercantile selling the family beef jerky recipe, and lots of leg lamp stuff.
She recalls thinking, “When the opportunity came up to open this store right here next to the lamp, who could pass up on that?”
Another business, Tammie’s Bling, started selling leg lamp T-shirts.
The old Savoy Hotel space put in window displays featuring leg lamps.
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The big lamp itself still sends out a warm glow that welcomes visitors from all over the U.S.
Chickasha’s lamp has a long-legged connection to the short story and the original movie, but around here, no one really cares.
“They see the success,” smiles Cowan.
A little more than a year after it ‘walked’ its way to this end of town, the lamp is looking more and more like ‘a major award’.
The annual Lighted Christmas Parade takes place on Chickasha Avenue on Saturday, December 2, and ends at the leg lamp statue.
Another city light display, The Festival of Light, is one of the top vote-getters in the USA Today’s Top 20 Attractions.
For more information on both events go to visitchickasha.com or the Festival of Light Facebook page.
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