By MC O’Bryant
The Norman Transcript
Norman —
The Wichita Mountains’ Holy City truly is a terrestrial marvel, which through its widely-acclaimed “The Prince of Peace Passion Play” beams with celestial tribute. It is here in this strikingly idyllic countryside reminiscent of Biblical Jerusalem as it may have existed during Christ’s time, our nation’s longest running passion play is re-enacted around Easter each year.
After a winter of reclusive indoor restlessness while awaiting the pools, parks and waterslides to reopen, an Easter excursion to the Holy City of the Wichitas might be just the combustive kinetics needed to rekindle that ardent travel compulsion you begrudgingly shuttered away last fall.
Getting there
Wish to check it out? Here the way it works. Go to your GPS and program in Oklahoma, Holy City and in all likelihood as fast as you can shout, “Holy Oberammergau,” you’ll have an electrified map on your LCD screen that will guide you right to the heart of Oklahoma’s Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge and the Holy City.
On the other hand, if you don’t have a GPS handy, you can do what I did — grab an Oklahoma road map and follow Intertstate 44 south out of Oklahoma City or Norman toward Fort Sill, take the Highway 49 exit west toward the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge and 15 minutes later you are there.
It often is referred to as “Oklahoma’s Oberammergau,” an eponym meant to pay homage to the German city in the Bavarian Alps whose own famed passion play held every 10 years dates back to 1634.
The Holy City of the Wichitas prides itself as both international and non-sectarian. Known by most simply as the Easter Pageant, it was the life work of Austrian-born Anthony Mark Wallock, who arrived in the United States at age 2 with his parents in 1892. He graduated from the Barret Biblical Institute and after a number of preparatory tenures settled in as pastor of the First Congregational Church in Lawton. It was while serving in that capacity in 1926 that Wallock led a group of the faithful to a mountain in the nearby Wichita range where a tableau of the Resurrection was presented. Out of this inauspicious event grew an annual Easter service — The Prince of Peace passion play, viewed by thousands annually.
The play has survived the trials and trepidations of time to become an Oklahoma tradition. Originally performed in the nearby resort town of Medicine Park, the play has changed its venue to the present site and changed its time frame from morn to eve. But only once — during the war years when sacked by severe weather — has a performance ever been cancelled.
On first glance
On approach, the Holy City looks very much to fit the Biblical description of ancient Jerusalem also known as the “Holy City,” revered to a point of demonstrated willingness to die for by Christians, Jews and Muslims alike.
Seeing it for the first time, the Holy City’s magnificent 12-foot alabaster/marble animation of Christ shimmering in a posture of receptive grace atop with Oklahoma’s ancient and venerably majestic Wichita Mountains skyline looming out on the distant horizon is one of my life’s indelible moments.
Out of what has to be one of our federal government’s most unprecedented acts of partnership with religion comes the little known fact the Holy City was for the greater part constructed and christened the “Holy City” by the U.S. federal government.
In 1935, as a part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Federal Works Progress Administration constructed seven native stone buildings and related structures which to this day remain the core of the Holy City.
Unavoidably, your emotions will be stirred if only by the colossal ambience of the pageant’s Big Sky openness, its imposing mountain terrain and the masses of pilgrimage-minded congregants gathered each Easter-tide. At its peak in 1939, this sacred gathering of Christian worshipers attracted nearly a quarter of a million visitors to “Audience Hill,” 15 miles outside of Lawton, for the sunrise performance.
This year organizers of the legendary tribute to Christ, under the directorship of Allen Carollis, expect to attract fewer visitors but with much greater accouterments such as chairs and comfort items furnished by the attendees themselves.
In years past, in order to accommodate larger congregations seating was limited to a blanket on the ground. This year’s production features a cast of 350 actosr and performers joined by 42 equestrians complete with chariot scenes will conduct two performances — 8 p.m. to 10:40 p.m. the evenings of March 27 and April 3. The recommended dress calls for Gortex and fur. Nights in the refuge can come with frostbite intensity this time of year.
Final assessment
If there is such a thing, I think the Holy City is richly deserving of a special marker-tab in Oklahoma’s catalogue of engaging tourist destinations. It is not simply a “one and done” event, although I can see how some might arrive at such an assessment, given all the attention focused on its once a year Easter Pageant.
The Holy City’s growing popularity as a year-round place of interest is heightened by its location within the boundaries of the 59,000 acre refuge. The refuge's visitor center, which is three miles down the road from the Holy City, is packed with fascinating exhibits featuring the area’s indigenous plants and animal life. Among the most eye-catching exhibits are the Bison (I still call them buffalo) and long-horned cattle.
In the nearby village of Meers, you can treat yourself to the world’s best long-horned giant-size hamburger, possibly the best hamburger period. I confirmed it during my recent chow-down while on a visit to the Holy City.
If you should decide to stop by, keep your lens cap in your pocket. The whole Meers eatery experience is an “I can’t believe I found this place,” photo op.
Holy City’s lone permanent occupant and treasured institutional memory is 77-year-old Frank Tucker, who recalls the glory days when pageant audiences were counted not by the thousands, but by the hundreds of thousands.
Past chairman of the institution’s board of directors, he devotes his full time to managing the day-to-day activities at the 70-acre history-laden locale.
The most popular attraction among the array of more than 20 structures and monuments is the church. It was built in the 1930s by the WPA to resemble the Church in Alexandria, Va., attended by George Washington.
The site 10 miles west of Highway I-44 is accessed through one of the nation’s most colorful and populous prairie dog towns. So get your camera ready. These furry little creatures are coy but absolutely irresistible as film fodder.
Easter comes early this year. So, if finding the prize egg is the colossus of happiness you seek, I say go with the metaphor — pay an Easter visit to the “Holy City,” It’s the Fabrege of Easter’s prize eggs.
