According to the Rolla (Mo.) Daily News, the town’s Route 66 Summerfest is “getting bigger every year.”
This year’s version is from May 31 to June 2.
A special tabloid newspaper detailing the event, with a distribution of more than 20,000 copies, will hit the streets in early May outlining the festival.
With the slogan, “It’s a Kick! Rolla’s Route 66 Summerfest,” the event has grown into an annual celebration saluting the fun and adventure of Route 66.
“It began in 1994 as an arts and crafts festival, and essentially, it has evolved into a much bigger event with sporting events and so much more,” Smith said.
The article has details about the festival’s beauty pageant, a Route 66 cruise, a charity poker run, a street dance with a live country-rock band, a professional skateboarders exhibition, the Route 66 Motorcycle Classic, an arts and crafts show, military displays, children’s activities, a car show, a parade, a sand volleyball tournament, a bicycle ride, kids’ bicycle and tricycle races, a tennis tournament, a burnout contest and an Elvis Presley impersonator. And it’s all free.
The Summerfest schedule can be found on its Web site here.
We stopped at it last year on our way out to the celebration at the Munger-Moss. Well worth the stop. We especially enjoyed the oompah band that was playing oldies rock music and Route 66 beauty Pageant.