This story from the Miami (Okla.) News-Record about the town’s future tourism efforts caught my eye with this excerpt (boldface type is my emphasis):
Oklahoma is already investing in international tourism as state tourism officials have partnered with the state of Kansas to commit a half-million dollars to target international travelers.
Barger said the investment is paying off as international tourism is exploding across the state.
Cowboy legends, Native American culture and the nostalgia of Route 66 are big draws for European travelers, according to Davis. Agri-tourism is also enticing transatlantic travelers who want to experience farm life.
“When they plan vacations, they plan to stay for four weeks,” Davis said. “With ribbon road and the Coleman Theatre right here … I think that we will see our tourism revenue double in two years.”
Wow. I’ve said all along that Route 66 towns ought to embrace their historical heritage. But it’s still stunning when one of those towns do it so whole-heartedly.
More:
Larry Eller, community development director for the City of Miami, is working with University of Oklahoma students to engineer a plan that will best preserve the original stretch of Route 66 that still exists in Ottawa County.
Public and private efforts are underway to complete the Coleman Theatre ballroom project and, in the meantime, Davis is continuing to network with local resources to prepare entertainment packages and incentives to keep tourists in town.
Doing the math, Davis said that just 10 tour buses a year – each carrying 40 people – could easily put $500,000 tourism dollars into the community if the groups spent a full week in Miami.
The “original stretch of Route 66” refers to the so-called sidewalk highway south of town. Local road officials didn’t have enough money at the time of Route 66’s original construction. So they simply made it more narrow — 9 feet wide, in fact.
The sidewalk highway is still there, but it gets dinged up every time a road grader is used to scrape the shoulders. A preservation plan to treat this original piece of Mother Road more delicately has been needed for years.