Thanks to Lebanese emigrating from Greater Syria to Bristow, our town holds an annual festival that celebrates one piece of their culture – a culinary tradition of eating tabouleh (many spell it “tabouli”), a Mediterranean fresh salad.Vendors selling services and wares, two Express Clydesdale horses and two camels, a Kid’s Zone and belly dancers and other performers provided fun entertainment on five city blocks of Main Street (Route 66) that circled around that central theme.This year’s Tabouleh Fest on May 10 th brought 5,000 people, according to Chapman Shields, the Assistant Planner to Stacey Shields, his mother and Lead Planner.
The Noon Lions Club (and host for the event), St. Joseph Alter Society, Bristow Fraternal Order of Police, Burnin LUV BBQ and 1st Christian Church sold a variety of Middle Eastern food in some form (tabouleh and tabouleh paste, cabbage rolls, Manakeesh, Mujadara, hummus, Labneh Balls, and baklava) and tried to keep up with customer demand.“Hat’s off to the chef!” exclaimed Anna Burford of Tulsa. “The cabbage rolls are delicious,” she said of the $15 dinner plate from the Noon Lions Club. Emily Keleher, her friend, agreed. “It is very traditional in its taste.”
The Abrahams, Shamas, Korkames, Macsas and Horany (Hamburger King restaurant) and David and Nellie Slyman (Slyman’s Grocery Store) and other families who came from Greater Syria, primarily in the late 1800s-early 1900s, were key to growing Bristow’s commerce. Their descendants thrive in Bristow.Tom Korkames is a thirdgeneration Lebanese descendant who owns/operates Pro Tech Termite; Pest Services in Bristow. His forefathers immigrated from Lebanon in the early 1900s,entered the United States through Ellis Island, moved to Arkansas and then to Bristow because the family wanted to live in a Lebanese community. Paul and Tina Korkames owned the Famous Chile plant.
See Tabouleh Fest, Page Three “The Lebanese have left their fingerprints on Bristow; it’s wonderful that we have a great festival in honor of that tradition to preserve its food and memory,” texted Tom Korkames.
A fourth-generation Lebanese-American, Kristin Weaver owns/operates Venue 66 and a centennial ranch started by Joe Abraham in 1911.Joe Abraham was one of the first and foremost Lebanese settlers in Bristow. He emigrated from Beirut, Syria (now Lebanon), arriving in New York City in 1896 and in Bristow in 1898 (then Indian Territory). Through keen business acumen (and fairness and generosity), he built the town’s largest mercantile store (his name is engraved on the building), bought thousands of acres of oil and gas interests and owned Bristow Gas Company and 12 cotton gins.
The Shamas family who immigrated to Bristow in 1904. Ellis Shamas, was born in 1913. Shaker Shamas founded Shamas Dry Goods in 1911.
“They came here because they could not practice their Christian faith in Syria”and America was perceived to be the land of plenty.
Two very different types of entertainment were hits among watchers. First, gyrating and swirling Belly Dancing by the Tulsa Raqs Belly Dance and The Mirage Dance Company who performed Shabbi, Dabka’ and Saidi Cane dances, among others. And second, the Bristow Community Band that included Wake Tidwell and Chapman Shields, with a lead singer, guitars and brass instruments playing pop songs. Tens of people clapped along to the sounds.
The Bristow Toy Museum, Route 66 Nutrition, Ruth’s on 66 and others were open for business. Lanette Fadely of the Toy Museum, said, “It’s been great. So many people that have never been in have come in today. It exceeded expectations.”
Mayor Kris Wyatt said the Tabouleh Fest is “a tradition that’s long standing in Bristow. It’s a lot of family fun.”
A successful event? Yes, said Chapman Shields, because of the “exposure to Lebanese culture and because our (Bristow’s) history is based on the merit of immigrants who came to Bristow.”