The best things to do in Bricktown are the mile-long canal walk and 40-minute narrated water taxi, a Comets game at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (April to September), the Centennial Land Run Monument at the canal's south end, the American Banjo Museum, mini golf and laser tag at Brickopolis, stand-up at Bricktown Comedy Club, and a Thunder game or concert at Paycom Center next door. Most of it is a ten-minute walk end to end.
You are standing at the top of the Bricktown Canal with an afternoon to fill and a group that has already eaten. Dinner is covered in every guide to the district. What to do between lunch and the Thunder game, with kids or without, is the part nobody writes down.
We send guests into Bricktown several times a week from our furnished homes across the city, so this guide is the activity list, not the menu. For the food, read our best restaurants in Bricktown OKC guide; for hotels versus homes nearby, read where to stay in Bricktown OKC. This page is about what you do once you are there.
Two clocks shape a Bricktown day. The Comets play at home from early April into late September, so a summer visit gets baseball and a winter visit does not. And on Thunder nights, roughly October through April with playoffs after, the district fills two hours before tipoff: water taxi slots, garage spaces, and the comedy club's early show all go first.
Why Bricktown Is Oklahoma City's Activity District, Not Just Its Restaurant Row
Bricktown holds more than 45 restaurants, bars, and shops along a mile-long canal, and almost everything worth doing there sits within a ten-minute walk of the water. The district's own association calls it Oklahoma City's original entertainment district, and the "entertainment" part is what this guide covers.
The bones are century-old brick warehouses east of the railroad tracks that separated the district from downtown. In 1993 voters passed MAPS, a sales tax for nine civic projects, and two of them landed here: the canal, which opened July 2, 1999, and the ballpark, which opened in 1998. Everything else grew around those two. Paycom Center sits across the tracks at the district's west edge, and the Oklahoma River and the Boathouse District are a short walk south.
What that gives a visitor is unusual for a mid-size American city: a ballpark, an arena, a canal with boats, a public art monument of national scale, two museums, a cinema, a comedy club, and an arcade, all in one walkable grid. The trick is knowing what is open when you are there.
What a Bricktown Day Costs, and What Waiting Costs More
A full Bricktown afternoon and evening for two runs about $100 in activities before food, and most of that is the ballgame. Here are the published prices from the venues' own sites as of late October 2026; the canal, the monument, and the ballpark statues are free.
| Activity | Price | When it runs |
|---|---|---|
| Bricktown Canal walk and Centennial Land Run Monument | Free | Always open; the monument is lit at night |
| Bricktown Water Taxi (narrated round trip, about 40 minutes) | Varies by age; riders have reported about $12 adult, $9 child online | Year round, weather permitting; every 15 to 20 minutes in summer, boats seven days a week; buy ahead on weekends |
| Oklahoma City Comets at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Ticketed; family-priced sections available | Early April through late September home schedule |
| American Banjo Museum | $8 adult, $6 youth 5 to 17, $15 family of four | Tue to Sat 11 to 6, Sun noon to 5; closed Monday |
| Brickopolis (mini golf, arcade, laser tag) | Per attraction | On the canal next to Mickey Mantle's; hours vary by season |
| Bricktown Comedy Club | Ticketed by show | Touring headliners most weekends, open mic and new-talent nights midweek |
| Harkins Bricktown 16 (movies) | Standard cinema pricing | Daily, E. Reno Ave at the district's south edge |
| Paycom Center (Thunder, OKC Blue, concerts) | Ticketed | NBA season October to April, concerts year round |
Waiting has a specific cost here. The water taxi's own site says tickets often sell out, especially on weekends, so a Saturday walk-up in July may mean an hour's wait or no ride. Comets tickets rarely sell out, but the shaded sections go first on hot days.
Thunder tickets at face value through the arena are gone well before game day in a good season, and the resale market sets the price after that. The things that cost nothing (the canal, the monument, the statues) never run out, which is why we build the day around them and fit the ticketed pieces in.
Bricktown weekend with a group? Our Paseo and Plaza homes are about 10 minutes from the canal, with driveways that save you the game-night garage hunt, and 4+ night direct bookings run up to 35% below the platforms.
See homes 10 minutes from Bricktown Call or text (405) 870-2146
The Canal: Walking It, Riding It, and What You Pass
The Bricktown Canal is about one mile long and links the district to the Oklahoma River, with the walkway free at all hours and the water taxi running a narrated 40-minute loop. It was one of the first MAPS projects to open, and the city drains and cleans it in winter from time to time, so check for a January closure.
Walk it first, ride it second. The upper canal, nearest Sheridan Avenue, is the restaurant stretch, with patios on both banks and bridges every block. South of Reno it opens up past the ballpark into Lower Bricktown, where the cinema and the larger retail sit, and ends at the Land Run Monument. The water taxi's ambassadors narrate the whole route, which is the easiest way to learn what you are looking at. You can walk up without a reservation on most weekdays. The operator recommends buying ahead on weekends because sailings fill.
Along the way, watch for murals on the warehouse walls and Flaming Lips Alley, a short street named for the Oklahoma City band. In winter the canal and its bridges carry holiday lights as part of Downtown in December, which turns the same walk into the district's best free evening of the year.
The Centennial Land Run Monument
The Centennial Land Run Monument at the canal's south end is one of the largest bronze sculpture installations in the world, with dozens of larger-than-life figures of settlers, horses, and wagons frozen mid-run. It is free, open all the time, and most visitors walk right past the trailhead that leads to it.
Norman sculptor Paul Moore began the project around 1999 for the state's 2007 centennial, and the figures were added over two decades; local reporting put the count at 45 with final pieces still being installed as recently as 2020, so you may read 45 or 47 depending on the source.
It depicts the April 22, 1889, Land Run that opened the Unassigned Lands to settlement. Go at dusk, when the bronze catches the low light and the figures throw long shadows across the plaza. It is a 10-minute walk from the top of the canal or a short hop on the water taxi, which pauses alongside it.
Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and the Statues
Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark opened in 1998 and is home to the Oklahoma City Comets, the Los Angeles Dodgers' Triple-A affiliate, which plays its home schedule from early April into late September. It is the best-value ticketed night in the district and the most family-friendly.
The team took the Comets name in October 2024, a nod to Mickey Mantle, the "Commerce Comet" from Commerce, Oklahoma. Even without a game, the ballpark is worth a lap for the three bronze statues outside it: Johnny Bench, who grew up in Binger, Oklahoma, at the home-plate gate; Mickey Mantle on the Mickey Mantle Drive side; and Warren Spahn, the Hall of Fame pitcher who managed in Tulsa, near right field.
Check the team schedule for home dates and promotion nights before you commit to a Friday, and get there early enough to walk the canal first; the two are a block apart.
Museums and Indoor Stops
Bricktown's two indoor attractions, the American Banjo Museum and Factory Obscura's nearby Mix-Tape, cover the rainy afternoon and the hot one. Neither takes more than two hours.
- American Banjo Museum. On East Sheridan at the top of the canal. Adults $8, a family of four $15, closed Mondays, last admission 45 minutes before closing. The museum describes itself as a world-class facility honoring the history of the banjo, and it is a better hour than most visitors expect.
- Harkins Bricktown 16. The district's cinema, on East Reno at the south edge, open since 2004. It is the fallback when an Oklahoma thunderstorm sits on top of the city for two hours.
- Factory Obscura Mix-Tape. Technically just north of downtown on NW 9th in Automobile Alley, a 6,000-square-foot immersive art space, closed Tuesdays. It is a 10-minute streetcar ride from Bricktown and a good pairing with a canal morning.
Brickopolis, the Comedy Club, and the Nightlife Side
Brickopolis puts outdoor mini golf on the canal bank with an arcade and laser tag upstairs, and Bricktown Comedy Club books touring headliners on weekends and open mics midweek. Between them they cover ages six to sixty.
Brickopolis sits on Mickey Mantle Drive beside the steakhouse of the same name, so parents can putt with the kids while the rest of the group waits for a table. The comedy club on East California Avenue runs a full menu and bar, so it works as dinner and a show on a night when the arena is dark. Add the live music venues along Sheridan and the district's bars, and Bricktown's evening runs as late as you want it to; our OKC bachelorette party itinerary and bachelor party OKC guides cover that side in detail.
Paycom Center and Thunder Nights in Bricktown
Paycom Center sits at Bricktown's west edge, and a Thunder home game changes the district from a stroll into a crowd about two hours before tipoff. That is either the best night to be here or the night to be somewhere else, depending on what you want.
If you have tickets, come early, eat on the canal, and walk over. If you do not, a game night is still a free show: the district fills with jerseys, the patios have the game on, and the canal is lit. If you want a quiet Bricktown, check the arena's events page and pick a night it is dark.
Parking is its own subject; the garages nearest the arena fill first and the streets around it close, so our Paycom Center parking guide and where to stay for Thunder games are worth reading before you drive in. The city is also planning a new arena for the team; our new OKC Thunder arena guide tracks that.
Bricktown Activities by Group and Season
The right Bricktown plan depends on who is with you and what month it is, because baseball, the water taxi's summer hours, and the holiday lights all come and go. This table is how we match guests to the district.
| Who you are | Best Bricktown plan | Best months | Skip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family with kids under 12 | Water taxi, Comets game with the outfield lawn, Brickopolis mini golf, Banjo Museum family ticket | April to September | Late-night bars; Thunder nights with strollers |
| Couple on a weekend | Canal walk at dusk to the Land Run Monument, comedy club or a Thunder game, water taxi by night | Year round; December for the lights | Saturday afternoon in July without a taxi reservation |
| Group of 8 to 16 | Comets group seats, a canal dinner, comedy club late show | May to September | Trying to park eight cars; base at one home and rideshare in |
| Sports trip | Thunder game plus the ballpark statues and a canal lap before tipoff | October to April | Expecting a quiet dinner at 6 p.m. on game night |
| Rainy or 100-degree day | Banjo Museum, Harkins, Factory Obscura by streetcar, Brickopolis arcade | Any | The outdoor mini golf at 3 p.m. in August |
A Worked Example: Four Adults, a Saturday in Bricktown, $220
A hypothetical group of four can fill a Saturday in Bricktown for about $220 in activities before food, with the free stops doing half the work. Here is the arithmetic at the published prices above.
- Morning: canal walk to the Land Run Monument and back, free. Banjo Museum, four adults at $8, $32.
- Afternoon: water taxi for four, in the ballpark of $48 at the prices riders have reported. Mini golf at Brickopolis, roughly $40 for four.
- Evening: Comets game, four seats at a hypothetical $25 each, $100.
Total in the ballpark of $220, with dinner on top. Swap the Comets for a Thunder game and the number is whatever the resale market says that week, which in a playoff year can be several hundred dollars a seat. On lodging, two hotel rooms in the district at a hypothetical $200 a night for two nights is $800 plus two nights of garage parking.
The same four in one of our Paseo or Plaza homes, 10 minutes away, from $285 a night at Plaza Manor, is roughly $570 for two nights before taxes, with a driveway and a kitchen for Sunday breakfast. These are illustrative figures; your dates set the real ones.
How to Plan a Bricktown Day, Step by Step
- Check the arena and the ballpark calendars first. A Thunder home game or a Comets fireworks night decides whether you want a quiet day or a loud one.
- Book the water taxi for a weekend visit. The operator says weekend sailings often sell out; a weekday walk-up is usually fine.
- Walk the canal to the monument before you ride it. You will know what the narration is pointing at, and dusk is the best light on the bronze.
- Put the indoor stops at midday in summer. The Banjo Museum and the arcade cover the hottest hours; the canal and the ballgame take the evening.
- Park once or arrive by streetcar. The fare-free OKC Streetcar runs through Bricktown and lets you leave the car in Midtown on a game night.
When You Don't Need a Furnished Home for Bricktown
For one night and a game, a Bricktown hotel puts you a block from everything on this list, and that is the right call. The district has several hotels within a walk of the canal, and a solo traveler or a couple on a quick overnight should use one.
A furnished home nearby changes the trip when the group is four or more, the stay is three nights or longer, or someone needs a kitchen, a yard, or room for a dog. All of our homes take up to two dogs for a one-time $150 fee.
Our two Paseo and Plaza homes are about a 10-minute drive from the canal, and Capitol Manor near OU Medical is 5 to 10 minutes; see the neighborhoods page for which homes sit where, and all eleven homes for sizes and rates. For the wider downtown picture beyond Bricktown, the Airbnb downtown Oklahoma City guide compares the districts.
Terms You'll Hear, Decoded
- MAPS: the 1993 voter-approved sales tax that built the canal and the ballpark.
- Lower Bricktown: the southern stretch of the canal past the ballpark, with the cinema and larger retail.
- Comets: the Oklahoma City Comets, the Dodgers' Triple-A club, renamed from the Dodgers in October 2024.
- Land Run: the April 22, 1889, opening of the Unassigned Lands to settlers, the subject of the canal-end monument.
- Streetcar: the fare-free OKC Streetcar, whose route runs through Bricktown.
- Book direct: reserving a home with us rather than through a platform, up to 35% less on 4+ night stays.
Sources for this guide: the City of Oklahoma City's canal anniversary release, the Bricktown Water Taxi, and the American Banjo Museum.
Your Next Steps
- Check whether the Thunder or the Comets are home on your dates; that decides the shape of the day.
- Reserve the water taxi if it is a weekend, and pick your indoor stop for the hottest or wettest hours.
- Book your base: see our homes 10 minutes from Bricktown or call or text (405) 870-2146 with your dates and group size.