"We didn't just pick Tulsa; they picked us," Bergman said, asking those in attendance to notice those in the auditorium and to remember them a decade from now when Tulsa's festival is in its 10th year.

He said annual attendance for the New York event, staged over five days, is about 6,000 guests. He has high hopes for Tulsa based on "the positive feedback here" leading him to believe that "quality, as well as quantity" is possible.

Mayor G.T. Bynum expressed his enthusiasm for the festival and its connection to a creative form that has helped to define Tulsa.

He recalled his ancestors coming to Tulsa generations ago, with streets of mud and "the houses were shacks," and spoke of how great architecture changed that perception, from downtown's Art Deco-inspired buildings to the modern BOK Center.

He called these design treasures "the splendor of what we get to live in on a day-to-day basis" and welcomed the festival's pursuit of beginning a dialogue on architecture and design between professionals and the public.

That public interest by Tulsans and those in northeast Oklahoma has perhaps never been higher.