I found this news item tonight from the Inland Press-Enterprise about the San Bernardino County Fair, which is right off Route 66 in Victorville, Calif.
But the article goes awry here:
Serafini boasts that it is the last remaining county fair on the historic transcontinental highway [my emphasis]. Its closest contender is a fair in Arizona that sits six miles from the highway, said Ken Alstott, CEO and manager of the San Bernardino County Fair for its sponsoring 28th District Agricultural Association.
Now, that’s just plain wrong.
First, you have the Creek County Fair in Oklahoma, which is prominently on 66 near Kellyville. The Canadian County Fair in El Reno, Okla., is just off Route 66, too. So is the Craig County Fair in Vinita, Okla. And I’m fairly certain the Beckham County Free Fair in Sayre, Okla., is close, too.
And those are the ones in Oklahoma that I know about.
How many more county fairs are out there near the Mother Road?
Largest or 2nd largest County Fair in Oklahoma is the Tulsa County State Fair between 15th & 21st Streets. Route 66 is 11th Street. My 1st grade math tells me that makes it only 4 blocks from the Mother Road.
I thought of that, but thought of Tulsa’s fair of more of a state fair.
However, with that criteria, you can add two more — the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque and the Illinois State Fair in Springfield are right on the Mother Road.
You are, of course, technically correct. I guess I’m too young or citified to know the difference between state and county fairs. If festivities include judging of barn yard animals and vegetables I consider it a county fair. 🙂
I think the point is that someone in Victorville is boasting of that which is either false or means little to nothing when you look at the plethora of “fairs” available to travelers of the Mother Road.
The Tulsa State Fair and the Tulsa County Fair are both held at the fairgrounds. But Expo Square is not on the Mother Road. (It is, however, a closer “contender” than the “fair in Arizona that sits six miles from the highway.”
Another case of a reporter taking one source’s word for something instead of fact-checking like he should.
What were they thinking? Gee whiz, the Los Angeles County Fair is held at Fairplex in Pomona. Pomona is a Route 66 city, although the fairgrounds are about two miles south of the route.
Route 66 isn’t a (historic) transcontinental highway IMHO
Because it doesn’t span the entire continent, right?