Pontiac may land another museum February 16, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, Museums.add a comment
The Route 66 town of Pontiac, Ill., may acquire yet another museum — one dedicated to the art of gilding, or placing a thin coat of gold on objects, reported the Bloomington Pantagraph.
The nonprofit Society of Gilders is considering establishing the museum. Urban J. Billmeier was one of the gilders who gave a pitch to the city council:
Billmeier said the society is hoping to find a place where it can to open a small museum to showcase its collection and house an annual convention and possibly classrooms for seminars.
“We have members who are on the East Coast and members on the West Coast,” Billmeier said. “One of the things that attracted us to Pontiac was the fact that it is centrally located.”
The society, which has about 300 members, is making use of temporary space in the International Walldog Mural Museum to promote the society and build interest in the craft.
According to the Pontiac Daily Leader:
The ISOG, which formed in 1986, has examples of work and items for sale currently at the Walldog Museum, but the group is looking for a much bigger space, maybe up to 20-by-60 feet, to house The Swift Collection.
Billmeier explained the Swift Company was a gold leaf producer and in the late 1800s used hand-hammered methods to produce gold-leaf, papery thin sheets of gold used to enhance all types of art works, wood workings, sculptures and signs.
“Even when they switched to machines to process the thin sheets, they left the old ‘beating stations’ alone. The company later closed and we were given these old stations and other tools and items of the trade. We are looking for a place where this equipment can be set up and displayed intact. We have approached several places that were interested, but only wanted certain pieces or could not accommodate the entire display,” he said.
Pontiac already hosts the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum, the Pontiac Oakland Automotive Museum, Livingston County War Museum, and the previously mentioned Walldog Museum.
This video shows a basic way to gild architectural details in your home:
Nominations sought for Oklahoma Route 66 Hall of Fame February 13, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in History, Museums, People, Route 66 Associations.2 comments
Every two years, one living and one deceased person are chosen for the Oklahoma Route 66 Hall of Fame. It is that time again.
The Oklahoma Route 66 Association is seeking nominations for 2012. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be May 26 at the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton.
Here’s what’s need for a nomination:
- Full name of nominee (state whether the person is living or deceased)
- Biography of nominee (he or she must live or have lived in Oklahoma)
- Nominee’s contribution(s) to Route 66
- Reason the nominee deserves this award
- Your name, address, and phone number if judges need clarification on any information
The Hall of Fame committee also would like a portrait-style photo of the nominee. And you can nominate more than one person.
Deadline for nominations is March 30. Please mail the nomination to: Oklahoma Route 66 Association, P.O. Box 446 Chandler, OK 74834.
Current Oklahoma Route 66 Hall of Fame members include Michael Wallis, Don Mullenix, Jack and Gladys Cutberth, Lucille Hamons, Kent Ruth, Jim Ross, Cyrus Avery, Dr. Walter Mason, Wanda Queenan, Lyle Overman, Kathy Anderson, Luther Robison, Marion Davidson, and Lucy Stansberry.
A good example to those along the Mother Road January 27, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Museums, People, Road trips.add a comment
Paul Chassey, a volunteer for the California Route 66 Museum in Victorville, Calif., wrote an interesting piece in the Victorville Daily Press about a fellow volunteer’s experience with a Chinese couple.
Go here to read it first.
Read it? If so, here are my observations about the article:
- Although the volunteer’s behavior was exemplary, such conduct should be fairly routine at the museums, businesses, and attractions along Route 66. Such hospitality has proven hugely beneficial to Pontiac, Ill., and the Mother Road in general.
- The story cements my hunch that China is going to become a huge, mostly untapped market for Route 66 tourism. As the Chinese gain more wealth and travel abroad, it’s logical to assume a number of its 1.3 billion citizens will want to get their kicks on the legendary Route 66.
Another town sees surge of Route 66 tourism January 22, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Businesses, Museums, Restaurants, Towns.1 comment so far
It isn’t just Pontiac, Ill., seeing a big increase in Route 66 tourism in recent years. According to an article today in the Springfield State Journal-Register, the small town of Atlanta, Ill., is experiencing a surge, too.
From the newspaper:
In Atlanta, sales tax revenue jumped 43 percent last year during the peak tourism season of April to August compared to four years ago, before the opening of the Atlanta Museum and the reopening of the 1930s-era Palms Grill Cafe. Both buildings in the 100 block of S.W. Arch St. are owned by the Atlanta Public Library.
The two endeavors were Atlanta’s first efforts to generate revenue from the steady trickle of Route 66 travelers who drive through the town every summer. [...]
The increase in foot traffic led to the opening of two new businesses: the Route 66 Gift Shop, which sells memorabilia and vintage items, and the Arch Street Artisan Shop.
And Atlanta isn’t done in trying to attract tourism dollars:
This spring, Atlanta will begin preparing a walking trail and signage around a quarter-mile of the original Route 66 pavement north of town. Officials also plan to open a coal-mining exhibit next to the grain elevator museum.
The community also has purchased an 1891 residence that served as a rooming house for Route 66 travelers in the 1940s, before motels were readily available. The city plans to offer the same service to modern travelers, although the Atlanta Route 66 Rooming House isn’t expected to open until 2013.
Between Pontiac and Atlanta, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that a concerted Route 66 tourism effort between locals and city government will pay dividends.
The newspaper article also examines several other Illinois Route 66 towns, whose tourism efforts range from tentative to feeble. Save for a bicycle rack, Virden doesn’t seem to be doing much. But nearby Girard boasts Doc’s Soda Fountain, which displays a map showing all of its foreign Route 66 visitors and hires an additional waitress during tourism season.
Bill Deck said area schools and local groups book tours throughout the year. But out-of-towners traveling the Mother Road make up 40 percent of summer traffic. [...]
“There’s a growing awareness,” Ernst said. “The Europeans are looking for small communities to explore. We want to make them feel welcome to stop in Girard.”
It sounds like a cliche to say: “If you build it, they will come.” But when it comes to Route 66 travelers, that seems to be the case.
Pontiac tourism rises 40 percent in 2011 January 3, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Museums.4 comments
A few months ago, Pontiac Tourism director Ellie Alexander reported that tourism in Pontiac, Ill., was trending at a 30 percent higher level than in 2010.
Note I said “trending.” I was skeptical the numbers would remain at that lofty level, especially when the off-season was looming.
It turns out Alexander was either being modest in her claims, or underestimated Pontiac’s tourism staying power to close the year. In the calendar year 2011, Pontiac drew 19,065 visitors — a 40.65 percent increase over 2010′s total of 13,554. And, yes, that was a record.
The numbers come from head counts compiled by docents at the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum. It’s certain the actual number in Pontiac was higher, since a few of them didn’t go to the museum but checked out other attractions instead.
Interesting facts gathered from Alexander’s report:
- In 2010, Pontiac tourism rose about 20 percent, from 11,220 visitors the previous year.
- The busiest day in 2011 was July 23, when the new Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum opened. A total of 580 people visited that day.
- The Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum logged
about 7,000over 9,000 visitors in less than a half-year of being open. - Pontiac’s busiest months were May through October, with monthly visitor counts hovering at the 2,000 to 3,200 range.
- Visitors to Pontiac came from 57 nations.
- The later off-season months — November and December — showed much stronger visitor numbers than the early off-season months of January and February.
- In 2011, Pontiac averaged about 52 visitors a day. That doesn’t sound like a lot. But with many of them buying souvenirs or eating meals in town, that translates to probably thousands of dollars of revenue each day.
Alexander has said Pontiac’s multiple museums and the town courting tour companies were big reasons for the increase. But when asked in an email what one thing other Route 66 towns could do to boost visitor numbers, she came up with an interesting answer:
I’d have to go with hospitality. Just about every compliment we receive starts with the hospitality they received while visiting us. The friendly local smile and engagement by everyone from the docent at the museum, to the passer-by on the street, to the Mayor greeting them with a handshake goes a long way. Especially with the international visitors – they love the “Americana” feel they get here. They tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on and so on.
Alexander says she anticipates an even bigger influx of British visitors in 2012, because of the “Billy Connolly’s Route 66″ program that aired in the United Kingdom in September and October.
We’ve also had visitors from the UK who have seen it, and are so very excited when they are on the bus, standing where Billy stood! They ask questions about our time with Billy and what he is like – he’s a real super-star in their eyes.
UPDATE: Alexander said Wednesday the Pontiac-Oakland museum didn’t include its opening-week numbers. The total number of visitors in 2011 there was 9,494.
(Photo of the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum, courtesy of Ellie Alexander)
Woody Guthrie Archives will move to Tulsa December 28, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, History, Museums, Music, People.2 comments
The Woody Guthrie Archives, based in New York, will move to his home state of Oklahoma and the Route 66 city of Tulsa by 2013, according a story late Tuesday by the New York Times.
The Tulsa-based George Kaiser Family Foundation bought the musician’s archives from the Guthrie family for about $3 million and will move them into 
the Brady District, north of downtown Tulsa.
Woody Guthrie, long considered the patron saint of folk music, was born in Okemah, Okla., which hosts an annual free folk festival in his honor.
The announcement comes just before when his 100th birthday will be celebrated in 2012. The Kaiser foundation will host a conference and concert at the University of Tulsa on March 10.
The Times reported:
“Oklahoma was like his mother,” said his daughter Nora Guthrie, throwing back her tangle of gray curls as she reached out in an embrace. “Now he’s back in his mother’s arms.”
The archive includes the astonishing creative output of Guthrie during his 55 years. There are scores of notebooks and diaries written in his precise handwriting and illustrated with cartoons, watercolors, stickers and clippings; hundreds of letters; 581 artworks; a half-dozen scrapbooks; unpublished short stories, novels and essays; as well as the lyrics to the 3,000 or more songs he scribbled on scraps of paper, gift wrap, napkins, paper bags and place mats. Much of the material has rarely or never been seen in public, including the lyrics to most of the songs. Guthrie could not write musical notation, so the melodies have been lost.
Guthrie’s previously unrecorded lyrics have spawned at least three albums — “Mermaid Avenue” and “Mermaid Ave. Vol. II” by Billy Bragg and Wilco, and the recently released “Note of Hope,” by a variety of rock and folk artists.
A message from Nora Guthrie, daughter of Woody and the curator of the archives, posted a message on the Woody Guthrie website that’s worth reading in full. A few excerpts:
Over the years, we’ve had a few requests for the Archives from a number of places; public institutions, universities, etc. In thinking about it, I always felt that Oklahoma was calling . All the major universities where many of these kinds of collections end up, seemed a bit too “precious”, too many stairs to climb. And it also seemed to me that most of the national institutions already had more than they can handle, with much of their collections sitting on basement shelves, awaiting a possible exhibit if the funding comes through. I discovered that the folks at the Kaiser Foundation are an extraordinary group of local people, working in many ways that benefit so many people. In particular, the 25 preschool centers they run bring the highest available educational facilities to so many of Tulsa’s neediest. It’s beyond impressive. It’s visionary. I sensed I could work with these people to create something really unique.
The next day I was walking around the Brady district in downtown Tulsa. I got to meet many of the local artists who were living and working in the old warehouse spaces; violin makers, furniture makers, visual artists, punk rock musicians, et al. It felt so much like the early ‘60s in Soho and the East Village. I felt an easy kinship with them, as I think my father would have. [...]
Why do people like Woody Guthrie leave their hometowns? Why do talented, inspirational and visionary people have to leave for cities like New York? Why do they often say, “I couldn’t grow there”? Why do some people think they alone own the American flag? Why do some people claim they’re more “American” than others? Why do some people think they are uniquely qualified to pull the strings of democracy? These are many of the questions that Woody sang about in his songs, looking for his own answers. Luckily, all of these questions are presently alive and kicking, now often hotly debated in small towns and cities just like Tulsa all across the country. I think it’s a good time to bring Woody’s own thoughts on these topics back home. And being close to where new art and new thoughts are being born is always inspirational. To be a part of this Oklahoma “renovation” feels like being in the right place at the right time aka “grace”. Or maybe just luck.
As the Times story makes clear, Oklahoma has been reluctant to embrace Guthrie because of his communist/socialist leanings. However, Guthrie was a product of his time. During the first few decades of the 20th century, Oklahoma became of a hotbed of socialist and communist advocacy. Also, communist sympathizers should be given a bit of a pass when they came of age during the Great Depression,when it appeared capitalism was collapsing.
I (and many others) also tend to overlook a musician’s political leanings as long as the music is good. I’ve enjoyed songs by the right-wing Ted Nugent and the left-wing Rage Against the Machine, and still do.
In Woody’s case, the music is very good indeed. You’d be hard-pressed to find a song that conveys America’s glories and possibilities than his best-known song, “This Land is Your Land.”
And when you’re watching a documentary about the Depression, you probably won’t find better a better soundtrack than Woody’s Dust Bowl Ballads. Here’s one, about Route 66 itself:
This announcement is a big, big deal for Tulsa. The Woody Guthrie Archives will draw many Route 66 travelers and non-66ers alike.
Clinton Route 66 museum will close for renovations December 27, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in History, Museums.1 comment so far
The Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton is set to close from January to at least mid-April for renovations, according to the museum’s website.
Pat Smith, the museum’s director, said in a message on the website’s home page that the museum will close its exhibits for renovations beginning Jan. 1, with the hope to reopen by April 15 — a few weeks before Route 66 tourism season begins.
Smith said the main lobby and gift shop will remain open during the museum’s regular hours throughout the face-lift.
According to a Facebook message from Route 66 booster Leroy Livesay of Clinton, the museum is undergoing a $500,000 renovation, and the exhibits will be “bigger and better” when they’re complete.
Officials at the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum couldn’t be reached for comment.
Although the museum remains among the very best about Route 66, it probably needs some sprucing up. The Oklahoma Route 66 Museum opened in 1995, and its exhibits undoubtedly are seeing the effects of age.
According to an article last year in The Oklahoman, the museum saw 33,000 visitors in 2009, which was a record.
(Hat tip: Mike Ward)