The self-serve beer wall at Cypress Tap is closed until next season. The same goes for Cypress Grill, the shipping-container kitchen that serves smashed burgers and Indian tacos, and for the Cypress Bar balcony. Choctaw Landing's dining page lists all three as "Seasonal Closed." The poolside Oka Sita Bar says "Closed for the Season."
The lawns those bars face stay busy, though. Between tomorrow and Thanksgiving weekend, Cypress Lawn and The Lawn at Oka Sita have exhibition stickball, fancy dancers, a Native fashion show and film screenings on the schedule, plus a Food Network chef cooking West African-influenced food at Tuklo Grill. Summer at the resort on US-259A is about the pool and the tap wall. In November, the calendar is mostly Choctaw.
The one restaurant that stays on full hours
Tuklo Grill keeps the whole property running once the outdoor spots close. It's open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday, and its Tuklo After Dark menu runs from midnight to 2 a.m.
The name tells you what the kitchen is going for. The resort says it chose Tuklo because Choctaw Landing sits close to the center of the Choctaw Nation's District 2. That district is known for what the menu calls "Oklahoma-meets-Southern" cooking: fried chicken, catfish with slow-simmered collard greens, and hand-carved Choctaw Beef steaks.
Choctaw Landing has only been here since April 3, 2024, when it opened to guests ahead of a May 23 grand opening. It has 100 rooms, including 15 suites, plus the Mercantile, Tuklo Deli, a Starbucks and a fuel station. KXII's opening-day report also noted an outdoor pool with cabanas and a casino floor. This is only its third fall. In 2026, the off-season schedule is organized around the Nation's own traditions.
Tomorrow and Saturday, a Top Chef finalist at Tuklo Grill
The month opens with the Celebrity Chef Takeover with Chef Eric Adjepong at Tuklo Grill. Choctaw Landing lists three seatings:
- Friday, Nov. 6, 5 p.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 7, 5 p.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m.
Adjepong is a first-generation Ghanaian American from New York City. He was a finalist on Season 16 of Top Chef, came back for Top Chef All-Stars, and now hosts Alex vs America and Wild Card Kitchen on Food Network. His cookbook Ghana to the World came out from Clarkson Potter in 2025 and was nominated for a James Beard Award. In February 2025 he opened Elmina, a contemporary Ghanaian restaurant in Washington, D.C., which the MICHELIN Guide has recommended.
Pairing a West African chef with a District 2 kitchen makes sense given how his work is described. The resort's event page says he focuses on how the West African diaspora shaped Caribbean, South American, Latin American and American foodways. Collard greens and slow-cooked Southern sides belong to that history too.
Tickets are sold through Ticketmaster, which the resort names as its official ticketing agent, and the event page links to them directly. The Ticketmaster listing also shows a Friday 7:30 p.m. seating that isn't on the resort's page, so confirm your time at checkout.
Three Saturdays and two Fridays
After the chef weekend, most of the schedule moves outdoors, and it builds toward the festival on Nov. 21.
| Date | Event | Time | Where on property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Michael Roberts Fancy Dancers | 2 to 4 p.m. | Cypress Lawn |
| Fri., Nov. 20 | Stickball Demonstration | 2 to 4 p.m. | Center Bar |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Native Fashion & Film Festival | 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. | Cypress Lawn |
| Fri., Nov. 27 | Enter Eden | 2 to 5 p.m. | Cypress Lawn |
| Sat., Nov. 28 | Southeast Remedy | 2 to 5 p.m. | Cypress Lawn |
The Nov. 14 dancers and the Nov. 20 stickball demonstration work like previews. The festival on Nov. 21 brings both back in a bigger format, and they make up the first half of that day.
The Native Fashion & Film Festival schedule runs in this order:
- Exhibition stickball games on The Lawn at Oka Sita, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- Fancy dancers, 2 to 4 p.m.
- The fashion show on Cypress Lawn, 4:30 p.m.
- Film screenings, 6 p.m.
Shopping and food will be set up along the boardwalk all day. The resort's Eventbrite listing marks the festival free and asks people to reserve a spot. Reserving costs nothing, and it gets your group counted before Saturday.
The stickball games take place on the pool lawn where the Oka Sita Bar serves frozen drinks to people in cabanas in summer. That bar is closed now, and the lawn hosts the Choctaw national sport instead.
Why stickball is on the schedule twice
Stickball appears on both Nov. 20 and Nov. 21 because it's the clearest link between the resort and the Nation that built it. The Choctaw Nation's own explainer, Stickball: The Choctaw National Sport, calls the game ishtaboli, or kapucha, and describes it as a long-standing tradition that has served as a teaching tool within communities. The same article says some historical games went along with diplomatic meetings and were used to settle disputes between communities.
That background shapes how you watch it. An exhibition game in Hochatown is built for spectators. Still, the sticks, the ball and the rules come from a game that once settled real disputes between towns, and the Nation's article goes into both the equipment and the history. November is Native American Heritage Month, and Choctaw Landing promotes it on its own heritage month page. Use the events page for exact November dates, since that's where the current calendar is kept.
Thanksgiving weekend, then the lights move to Broken Bow
The November schedule ends with live music on Cypress Lawn. Enter Eden plays Friday, Nov. 27, and Southeast Remedy plays Saturday, Nov. 28, both from 2 to 5 p.m. If you have family in town for the holiday, both are afternoon shows, so you can still get to Tuklo Grill for an early dinner.
Choctaw Landing hasn't posted any December events yet. After Thanksgiving, the next confirmed date is in Broken Bow at Broken Bow City Park, 1211 James Butler Dr. TravelOK's Winter Wonderland listing has the light display running Dec. 5 through Dec. 27, 2026. Admission is free, the lights come on after dark, and select Saturdays add Santa, carriage rides, vendors and activities. The listing doesn't say which Saturdays those are, so check the week of your visit.
Until then, the November schedule at Choctaw Landing is a short one: a chef weekend at Tuklo Grill, a stickball demonstration at Center Bar, four afternoons on Cypress Lawn, and an 11 a.m. start on Nov. 21 for the stickball games on The Lawn at Oka Sita.
Our family spends the off-season here too, and this time of year shows you how a place runs once the summer crowd leaves. If you own a cabin in Hochatown and want to talk through what a quieter November means for your property, or you're thinking about buying near Choctaw Landing, Teresa Bartlett would love to hear from you. Let's Connect.
