Rob:  Well, located in far southwestern Oklahoma, Mangum is a town that has a storied past, yet has struggled in recent years with a declining population and closed businesses.  Something a group of area residents are working hard to turn around.  Here's our Courtenay Dehoff.
Courtenay:  This group of residents formed an organization called Mangum Main Street.  The goal is to make the downtown area into a tourist destination and an attractive location for new businesses.  By revitalizing downtown, they have done, just that.
Courtenay:  Main Street Mangum is taking on a whole new flavor, giving local residents a new place to gather; revitalizing the areas downtown, one scoop at a time.  Maxine Thomas is Mayor of Mangum, Oklahoma.
Maxine:  You're really looking at the re-birth of a community.  You see new property owners and older, do I dare use the word, older property owners, really taking a look at the importance of the buildings in a community and saying what kind of message is this about what kind of a community we are.
Judy:  It's not just an ice cream parlor.
Courtenay:  This ice cream shop is the second building that Judy and Meredith Shidler have refurbished on main street.
Judy:  Three o'clock.  We have a coffee crowd that comes in, after school; but, three o'clock is normally when we get the busiest.
Courtenay:  Well aware that to prosper in small town Oklahoma, you've gotta wear a lot of hats.
Meredith:  I don't think a town this size can live on one business.  You've got to be able to do more than one thing, there's coffee, there's tea, there's sodas.
Courtenay:  A can do attitude that the town's Mayor says can be found up and down main street.
Maxine:  What's happened here, one building after another has been improved and updated and as soon as that happens someone looks at it and says, you know, I could put a business in there.  I've always wanted to do this or that and that's what you see, those little entrepreneur businesses that are coming into the smaller community and niche market.
Courtenay:  Like just down the block at Artist Alley.
Norma Williams:  One of the things I really like are finger marks; that indicates the piece is actually handmade.
Courtenay:  Norma Williams is doing exactly what she wants to do.
Norma:  I love to get up and go to work and it's muddy, it's messy, it's dirty; but, there's just a certain joy in it that I can't describe.
Courtenay:  It's the reality of a dream, owning her own pottery shop; but, it's the location, that seals the deal.
Norma:  We knew that this was a quiet corner of the world and I had never been able to actually have a shop in the other places because of the expense.
Courtenay:  Finding her artistic solitude only in Mangum.
Norma:  I immediately felt at home.  I felt comfortable.  I started producing more and I found that the community was awakening to what I did.
Courtenay:  And Norma isn't the only artist in Mangum.  In fact, after moving to this downtown storefront, a couple of nearby artists decided to open art shops of their own, creating a booming downtown destination.
Laurie Thompson:  I had an opportunity to rent one of these studios.
Courtenay:  Laurie Thompson brings an unusual southwestern art.
Laurie:  We started playing around with cow bones and I have come up with some original artwork on cow bones and it has transpired into kinda like supply and demand.  I don't get them out very fast and I don't have very many left on the shelves.
Courtenay:  And just next door is Kate Johnson.  A horse inspired pencil, pen, and ink artist, who says she's there because of her supportive colleagues nearby.
Kate Johnson:  I don't know that I would do this on my own.  I think I'm doing this because of the support and encouragement I get from them.
Courtenay:  And the artistic talent in Mangum goes on, and on, and on; whether it's stopping for a cup of coffee in one art shop, or taking a pottery class in another, the folks within Artist Alley have two things in common, art and the love of a small town life.
Courtenay:  Wayne Vaughn heads up Mangum's Main Street program.
Wayne Vaughn:  In the last four years we've had over two million dollars invested in the downtown, private money invested in the downtown buildings with fasods, renovation opening up new businesses and things of that nature.
Courtenay:  Keeping small town Oklahoma alive, one thriving main street business, at a time.
Courtenay:  If you would like to see more on the struggles and the triumphs of living in small town Oklahoma, we have an additional feature on Mangum on our website at okHORIZON dot com.
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