School districts struggle to find graduation venue after OKC fairgrounds shakeup
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — High school graduation is a huge milestone for students and their families, but some Oklahoma school districts are struggling to find a place for the big ceremony.
For years, school districts have held graduations at the fairgrounds. First, at the Jim Norick Arena, but once it closed, they were moved to the Bennett Event Center.
"We were always told each year that when the Coliseum was built, we would just shift into there for graduation," said Dr. Jason Perez, superintendent, Deer Creek School District.
That promise was broken this Summer, when districts say they received an email that the OG&E Coliseum wouldn't be available for graduations.
"The concern was more of from the coliseum and the fairgrounds perspective is that they would be missing out on contracts for horse shows and different other types of organizations that would bring money into the fairgrounds and surrounding businesses," said Dr. Perez.
Mid-Del School District is also frustrated by the decision.
"They knew these things would be the priority when they built it, so why were we told that the new building would be available for graduation at all if that wasn't going to be honored?" said Dr. Rick Cobb, superintendent, Mid-Del School District.
School districts say they've been told they can still rent the Bennett Event Center.
Dr. Cobb says it isn't ideal, but they'll still be using it for now.
"It's flat, I think that a lot of our families had issues with visibility," said Dr. Cobb.
Deer Creek is moving their ceremony to the University of Central Oklahoma's stadium.
Piedmont is also affected by the change and sent us the following statement:
Piedmont Schools have used the state Fair Grounds Arena for our graduation ceremonies for many years. We were originally told we would be allowed to rent the new OGE Arena if construction stayed on schedule. In early 2025, we were told all spring graduations would be moved to the Bennett Events Center. Many of our parents were very unhappy with the move to the Bennett Events Center. The Bennett Events Center seating is all on ground floor level. It is very difficult to see the stage from a large majority of seats. This is a once in a lifetime event for our students. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings all want to see their loved one graduate. Stadium seating for 4000-5000 attendees allows for a pleasant event for everyone.
Dr. Drew Eichelberger, Superintendent, Piedmont Schools
We were led to believe that we would move to the OGE Arena for the May 2026 graduation. We were told in the summer of 2025 that the new OGE Arena would not be rented to schools for graduations. This is a very disappointing development. We have searched for a venue large enough to accommodate our community with no success. We will continue our search.
Superintendents say there are not many options to choose from.
"When there's those limitations to limit it even further, I really feel like it takes away from our community's sense of Oklahoma and puts it more on just being business-friendly," said Dr. Perez.
News 4 reached out to the OKC Fair Park and was sent the following statement:
OKC Fair Park had an initial meeting with some of the larger school districts located in the metro. There was a subsequent meeting with a superintendent who had attended the first meeting. The superintendent agreed to reach out to the school districts from the first meeting to set a follow up meeting with OKC Fair Park to discuss graduation opportunities. OKC Fair Park is prepared to meet again as soon as the school districts are ready.
OKC Fair Park spokesperson