News

A walk through El Reno's history of public safety was presented at last week's El Reno Now gathering.

City Manager Matt Sandidge said it was appropriate that the focus on public safety be presented in the Public Safety Center on Faith Avenue, just off SW 27th Street.

Police Chief Ken Brown and Fire Chief Jason Duff used power point presentations to walk the audience through the history of both departments.

Brown, the city of El Reno’s longest tenured employee, having started with ERPD in 1980, has served as Chief of Police for 16 years.

El Reno’s T.J. Dill has been named as deputy director of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority.

Dill most recently served as chief engineer since April 2023, overseeing engineering, construction, maintenance, right-of-way and utilities along Oklahoma turnpikes.

In his new role, he will continue those responsibilities as well as adding new ones in the areas of human resources and customer service.

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Beef Council invites you to celebrate the Oklahoma onion burger – a unique burger that combines the flavor of beef and caramelized onions.

The Oklahoma Onion Burger Trail features 22 restaurants that offer delicious, authentic Oklahoma onion burgers.

You can sign up for a digital pass that you access from a mobile phone, or you can download a paper pass to keep track of your visits. Go to oklabeef.org/burgertrail to sign up.

The trail will be open through Aug. 30, 2024.

El Reno will again celebrate holding the record for the world’s largest onion burger at the 36th Annual Fried Onion Burger Day Festival on May 4.

The day-long affair runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and continues a tradition that brings an estimated 25,000 people downtown.

The event is free and open to the public.

Although grilling and eating an 850-pound onion burger is the festival’s main draw, there will be lots to see in the six-block area.

The Burger Day Festival is a tribute to the fried onion hamburger, cooked daily in El Reno since the early 1900s.

It’s the burger that has helped make the community a destination for food lovers and those trekking along historic Route 66.

It’s not uncommon to hear languages such as French or German being spoken in El Reno’s three main “burger joints,” Johnnie’s, Robert’s or Sid’s.

Jason Young was born in Edmond and currently resides in Yukon. He started his musical career working for Nashville recording artists Ty England, Chad Brock and Cledus T. Judd.

Young formed the Jason Young Band in 2017. The band is made up of Chandler Austin on drums, Mike Myers on bass, David Short on fiddle, harmonica and lap steel, Brandon Brackett on lead guitar and Pat Goldsby, tour manager.

The Jason Young Band has released five singles to Texas Radio: Long Way Home, The Moment, Under My Skin, Vinyl and Poor, all charted in the Texas Radio Top 30.