Tending the Grid

Supporting our communities as the region grows and changes

Each May, the Stilwell Strawberry Festival helps mark the start of the summer festival season across the Ozarks service territory. 

We look forward to it every year, especially in our Oklahoma offices. I’m always impressed by how the community shows up to support the growers, local businesses and volunteers who make the festival possible. It has been an honor to serve as a parade judge over the years.  

Ozarks Electric has supported the tradition for decades, going back to at least 1953, when our ad first appeared in the festival’s Strawberry Book. Ozarks Electric was there when those farms depended on reliable electricity to power farmhouses, barns and equipment. We’ve also been providing OzarksGo fiber broadband for the festival since 2017. Our purpose remains the same: supporting the region however it grows. Weʼre continuing that work by strengthening the electric system that supports
our communities. 

That work is visible across our system. We’re in the middle of a multi-year effort to upgrade parts of our transmission system — the larger power lines that connect our substations. One recent project replaced wooden poles, some more than 50 years old, with stronger steel structures between our Harp Hill substation in Springdale and the Zion substation on Guy Terry Road in Fayetteville.

This spring on the Oklahoma side, crews relocated lines along Highway 59 between Stilwell and Westville and along Highway 100 West as the Oklahoma Department of Transportation widened the road. We’re also adding a transformer at the Titanic substation to accommodate growth in that area.

Projects like these take years of planning and preparation. In our industry, planning often means looking five, 10 or even 20 years ahead so the system is ready before our communities need it.

Our job is to make sure the system is ready to support communities like Stilwell, whether it's in strawberry season or any other time of year.

Sincerely,

Mitchell Johnson
President / Chief Executive Officer