Centennial Celebration Comes With $30 Million Price Tag

Sunday, December 2nd 2007, 4:32 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Oklahoma celebrated its 100th birthday in grand style with a star-studded concert, parades, fireworks displays and hundreds of centennial projects across the state, but those projects also came with a hefty price tag. Figures from the Office of State Finance indicate more than $30 million was spent by the state in the effort.

Blake Wade, executive director of the Oklahoma Centennial Commission, says the state's centennial was a perfect opportunity to undertake projects that should have been completed years ago. Among them were putting a dome on the state Capitol more than 80 years after it was completed and dedicating a monument to the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor.

Wade says each state dollar was matched by donations from the private sector.