Reba Opening Restaurant In Downtown Atoka This December

Oklahoma country music star Reba McEntire is opening a restaurant in downtown Atoka.

For the past two years, plans have been in the works to transform this small Oklahoma town into a tourist hot spot.

Project manager Kurtess Mortense is just as invested as Reba in helping this community thrive.

"The passion for me is seeing small towns come to life and seeing the benefit to regular, everyday people,” Mortensen said.

Reba’s Place is a century masonic temple that will be transformed into a restaurant, bar, gift shop and live music hub.

Restaurant Manager Garett Smith says construction is moving along.

"It's so much fun. It's so exciting. I think it would be exciting for any town but truly the community of Atoka, the city council, the citizens, everyone has just come together and made this project above and beyond,” Smith said.

According to Smith, Reba has had a huge role in the project.

"She is very, very much involved. She's excited, she loves to see progress pictures. She loves to hear what we're doing. She will call, she will text 'hey what's going on, send me something,' she's been in, she's seen it. Of course, she was here from the ground up, so she's really excited."

Reba's Place is set to open in December.