Destination Claremore
“Who Says You Can’t Go Home?” is not Patti Page’s song. She knows you can go home. She was born in Claremore and always claims Claremore as her hometown wherever she lives or travels. The “Singing Rage,” whose introduction to fame was on a Tulsa radio station sponsored by Page Milk Company, will be back in Claremore for her first public appearance since a street was named for her in 1969.
She will headline Claremore Destination Week April 24-May 1 with an appearance at an “Evening Gala” at Will Rogers Downs on Wednesday, April 28, and a concert on Thursday night at the Robson Performing Arts Center.
Forty-one years ago on Nov. 4, Page was in Claremore for a short visit, the naming of Patti Page Boulevard, a luncheon in her honor and special guest appearance for Will Rogers Days at the Will Rogers Memorial
In an interview with John Wooley, Rogers Countian and retired Tulsa World reporter, she said naming of the street was one of her “biggest thrills” and she has had many.
Clara Ann Fowler in 1927 in Claremore, the youngest of 11 children. In 1945 she turned down a University of Tulsa art scholarship to become the singing hostess of the Page Milk sponsored radio show on KTUL Tulsa. That led to a move to Chicago, record contract and her first hit “Confess.” She broke ground in pop-country crossover and has several gold records. “Tennessee Waltz” was the flip side of a seasonal record, but became the second best selling single in American pop-music history, selling more than 20 million copies.
Another highlight of her career was an appearance at Carnegie Hall, where that performance won her first Grammy.
She has never quit singing or winning awards and in 2003 released “Child of Mine.” She has also written a memoir “This is My Song.”
Page and her husband live in California and New Hampshire, where they have a farm.
Destination Claremore Week is a combined effort of Claremore’s tourist attractions sponsored by Claremore Convention and Visitor Bureau and presented by RCB Bank and Will Rogers Downs. Other sponsors are 1st Bank Oklahoma and Grand Bank.
Tanya Andrews, CVB executive director, said events are designed to highlight and celebrate some of the many attractions of Claremore and the surrounding area, focusing on “Claremore! Oklahoma’s Cast of Legends.”
The week of activities includes:
• April 23-24, Shepherds Cross Wooly Weekend
• April 24-25, Trader Days at Will Rogers Memorial and J.M. Davis Museum
• April 26, Claremore Night at J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum
• April 27, Claremore Night at Will Rogers Memorial
• April 28, Will Rogers Down, Evening Gala with Patti Page (ticketed)
• April 29, Robson Performing Arts Center, Patti Page in concert (ticketed)
• April 30, “Taste of Claremore,” a progressive dinner of restaurants and caterers in the Claremore area
• May 1, Lilac Festival, downtown Claremore
• May 1. Derby Day at Will Rogers Downs