The 10th annual International Route 66 Mother Road Festival this weekend in Springfield, Ill., saw a record number of entrants, according to a Sunday evening report by the Springfield State Journal-Register.
Festival president Kim Rosendahl said 1,186 people, an increase of 50 from last year, registered for the annual cruise on Friday. Saturday numbers were not immediately available, but crowds were estimated at 75,000 to 80,000 for this year’s show.
“We had a beautiful event this year,” Rosendahl said. “We had a great start Friday with nice weather for the cruise, and the weather continued to be cooperative all weekend.” […]
Gene Eastman of Green Mountain Monogram said he thought more people purchased T-Shirts at his stand. Eastman said it looked like crowds were larger because the rain stayed away.
Reviews from several people who participated were also positive.
As a former volunteer to a big annual festival in Illinois, I can attest that weather plays a huge factor in attendance at outdoor events. A well-planned festival can still become a failure if Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate.
The Springfield festival was started as a companion event to an annual gathering by the National Historic Route 66 Federation. The initial festival was such a success, Springfield decided to make it an annual event.