Kingfisher Chamber of Commerce Manager Shauna Rupp loved the compliments that rolled into her office from visitors from throughout the state and beyond about how wonderful their experience was here.

City Manager Dave Slezickey loved seeing the crowds who spent the day shopping and dining in town, bolstering the local economy.

Police Chief Dennis Baker and Fire Chief Tony Stewart loved most of all that more than 10,000 people got in and out of town, a major highway was closed and then reopened and thousands of dollars in explosives were detonated from and over downtown buildings – all without major mishap.

None of that was an accident.

A core planning committee of 12 volunteers from the police department, other city offices and chamber representatives have been working since February to develop and implement a strategy to make sure the massive event goes off without a major hiccup.

And with the aid of dozens more volunteers, city workers and law enforcement, they managed to do just that.

“I don’t think those 12 people on the committee fully understand what they pulled off,” Slezickey said. “There were a few minor issues and some good suggestions for doing it better in future years, but it was executed to near perfection.”

While it’s impossible to gauge with total accuracy the number of spectators at this year’s event, Slezickey, Police Chief Dennis Baker and others on the ground said the crowd seemed larger than last year’s estimate of 10,000.

“The fireworks guys also said it looked like more people from the rooftops and they will look at drone shots to try to estimate numbers,” Slezickey said. “But once you start talking about crowds that big, whether it’s 10,000 or another thousand or so, it takes the same kind of planning to get ready for it.”

The committee of 12 met Monday to discuss what went right and what could be done better next year.

“All in all, everything went very well as far as the police department is concerned. We have identified some areas we need to tweak for next year ourselves internally.

“There was a lot of good constructive suggestions made at the follow-up meeting that we’ll begin working on for implementation for next year.

“The pre-planning definitely made an impact on our organizational efforts.

“We now have a system in place that we can continue to build and improve upon from year to year.”

In her first Christmas season as chamber manager, Rupp said she spoke with visitors from throughout Oklahoma and at least fi ve other states Saturday night.

“The chamber and board of directors are thrilled with the attendance, participation and responses we’ve received,” she said.

Rupp echoed Baker’s comments about the necessity and effectiveness of the planning that happened in the months leading up to the event.

“We implemented a pre-check-in process where parade entrants could check in the night before, eliminating the last-minute crunch on Saturday,” she said. “I had 70% of the entries checked in by 6 p.m. Friday, which allowed us to have everyone staged and ready to go so much more easily on Saturday.”

Some of the changes expected for next year include recruiting even more volunteers to help with crowd control and bringing in portable bathroom facilities.

“We all get caught up in the ooohs and aaahs of the night and forget that there’s a significant amount of behind the scenes work by many individuals,” Rupp said.

“Everyone who helped pull this off needs to pat themselves on the back,” Slezickey said.

“Job well done.”