S.T.E.A.M & Industrial Arts 

Dancing Turtle embraces all arts and loves to waltz us through the design evolution of many of the machines, crafts, and technologies that we see, use and benefit from every day.

When you say or hear someone say “I love the way that car looks”, a lightbulb should go off in your head reminding you that art is everywhere and that person is enjoying “art on wheels.”    

We’ll have cars, motorcycles, robots, bicycles, gasoline engines, woodworking, blacksmithing, glass blowing, fire trucks, electric utility vehicles and a smorgasbord of gadgets and gizmos and interactive technology systems for our guest to enjoy.

OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology

Where to start!?  Oklahoma State University is a land grant college and proud of its “Agricultural and Mechanical” heritage.  There will be robots, race cars, an interactive piping and valve “flow STEM education system”, CNC and 3D printer demonstrations and more.   

Visitors will be able to enjoy the sites and engage with college students, technical experts and faculty.  

OSU will be inside the big tent, and there will be something for almost everyone to see and do there.

Art on Wheels

Cars through the Years

The Stillwater Car Club will grace us with their presence again in 2023, in the parking lot south of the Community Center.  This year we will also have live music to entertain the car club and visitors. 

If you look carefully and think about the thousands of curves and lines that define the lines of the exterior, interior and the plethora of machine components, you quickly realize that the amount of art involved in automobile design is awe-inspiring and a beautiful thing to behold. 

There will be 100 years of automobiles on display for visitors to enjoy the many examples of “art on wheels”.

A Century of Harley Davidsons

Nathan Forman will share his phenomenal collection of Harley Davidson Motorcycles, dating back to the early 1900s.  Most of the collection has been painstakingly restored, and sparkles like new.  

This is one of the finest collections of Harley Davidsons you’ll ever see.  Enough beautiful “bikes”, that it will make a turtle dance.

Bicycles – From Wood to Steel to Carbon Fiber, From Pedals to Hybrid Electrics

Cooper Cycles is sharing a snipit of their amazing collection of bicycles, with one dating back to the 19th century.  Bicycles are machines where we can see the majority of the moving and non-moving parts. The designers and craftsman’s work generally extracts a reaction of approval or disapproval, even before the bicycle moves.  

We will have the opportunity to see a wooden wheeled bicycle from the dawn of pedaled transportation to a modern hybrid pedal/electric bicycle, with a few examples in between.  

Many of us remember how beautiful our first bicycles were.  Memories like those are happening every day, across the globe.  Yep. art and wind in our hair evokes warm emotions.

Antique Engines

Before the widespread use of electric motors, single cylinder and small multi-cylinder gas powered engines were machines that powered many factories and workshops.  To some of us, the pop-pop-pop of low speed, one and two-cylinder engines is music to our ears and takes us back to simpler times.  Like motorcycles, you can see almost every part of the machine, and you will enjoy the craftsmanship and artistic flare the designers and fabricators in almost all aspects of these vintage engines.

Fire Engines – Great and Small

The Stillwater Fire Department will share the biggest and smallest vehicles in its fleet, their massive ladder truck and their nimble brush truck.  

The way our bodies mov and the way we see and understand things, are factors that that can determine how well we function in emergencies and how quickly we can do things like get into a fire truck, drive a fire truck, exit a fire truck, operate a fire truck and fight fires.  The design process involved in safety critical equipment like fire trucks is as exacting and arguably more important than the design of luxury or high performance vehicles.  Sometimes we forget. 

Visitors will be able to see the insides and outsides of these important and fascinating vehicles, that help keep us safe, save lives and protect our homes and places of business.  

If you’re lucky, they might even raise the ladder or spray some water during your visit.

The Stillwater Electric Utility Authority will bring one or more of their “bucket truck” and other safety equipment for visitors to view and learn about.  

You are able to read this on your phone or your computer, thanks to the contributions of electric utility companies like the SEU, that get power to your homes and businesses. 

Bucket trucks, like virtually all machines, are products of an artistic and technical design process.   Blending form and function in a way that assures a safe working environment, even when the technician and bucket are held dozens of feet in the air, and in close proximity to electricity capable of powering a house, neighborhood or city.  

We rarely get the opportunity to see one of these technical wonders up close, and now’s your chance.