Swa Frantzen wins top Route 66 award

Swa Frantzen (shown above), an Internet pioneer in publicizing Route 66 with his Historic66.com site, won the top honor during the Will Rogers Awards Event on Saturday night during the Route 66 Festival in Litchfield, Ill.

The New Business of the Year was 4 Women on the Route in Galena, Kan. Chicago Route 66 researcher David Clark earned the Founders Award. Ron Warnick of the Route 66 News Web site won Person of the Year. Business of the Year was the Ariston Cafe of Litchfield.

Also, Route 66 enthusiast Emily Priddy won the first Wallis 66 award. Trailnet earned the Cyrus Avery Preservation Award for its work with the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. Longtime Missouri Route 66 ambassadors Tommy and Glenda Pike were given the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Frantzen, a native of Belgium, became the first foreign winner of the annual Route 66 banquet. His site was established in 1994 and was the first Route 66 site. Master of ceremonies Jim Conkle read the inscription on the trophy, which noted that Frantzen’s comprehensive site was “unequalled” in its promotion of the Mother Road internationally. Stunned by his honor, Frantzen said he began setting up the site in 1993 after initial attempts to find more information online about Route 66 bore little fruit.

The Pikes, who reside in Springfield, Mo., have been involved with the Route 66 Association of Missouri for many years, and have traveled the Mother Road extensively since the 1970s. “I never expected this,” Tommy Pike said, “because you do what do you because you like what you do.” He saluted the members of the Missouri association, and thanked his daughter Tonya.

Joy Avery (center), granddaughter of “Father of Route 66” Cyrus Avery, was the presenter of the Cyrus Avery Preservation Award. Trailnet converted the long-moribund Old Chain of Rocks Bridge in north St. Louis into a popular cycling and pedestrian trail. Accepting the award for Trailnet was Mary McIntyre. The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge will host the St. Louis Route 66 Festival on Oct. 4, featuring a car show, events on both sides of the bridge, and an outdoor screening of the film “American Graffiti.”

The Business of the Year honor was accepted by Ariston Cafe owners Nick and Demi Adam. The Ariston,  founded in 1924, has sat on Route 66 in Litchfield since 1935. Nick Adam paid tribute to his father, who started the business.

Accepting the New Business of the Year award for 4 Women on the Route were Judy Courtney, Renee Charles, Melba Rigg and Shelby Rigg. Conkle said the women, who converted a long-abandoned gas station into a restaurant and gift shop, were being lauded not for what the business was, but “what you represent.”

Priddy, of Tulsa, won the inaugural Wallis 66 award, named after keynote speaker and author Michael Wallis and his wife, Suzanne, and was chosen by Michael. The award recognized Priddy for her written and creative work, and her “provoking and inspiring” passion for the road. Priddy thanked Wallis for his friendship and her husband Ron Warnick for his support. She also urged roadies to contribute donations to help complete the restoration of the Rock Cafe in Stroud, Okla., destroyed by fire a month ago.

Clark, who has written two books about Route 66 in Chicago and has guided walking tours of the Mother Road there, said during his acceptance of the Founders Award that “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Carol,” his wife.

Warnick, of Tulsa, earned the Person of the Year honor for his Route 66 News Web site. He thanked his wife, Emily Priddy, for her support, and recognized Frantzen for his longtime work on the Internet for Route 66. Warnick’s award came several minutes before Frantzen was bestowed the Will Rogers Award.

Wallis’ keynote speech waxed nostalgic of his memories of Route 66 in his boyhood home of St. Louis, but also noted that Route 66 is “an unfinished story and a work in progress.” Paying particular attention to the Rock Cafe’s recently being destroyed by fire, he said “I have never doubted for an instant that the Rock Cafe would come back” because of the tenacity and vision of its owner, Dawn Welch.

It was announced that the 2009 Route 66 Festival is tentatively scheduled for the second weekend in September in Flagstaff, Ariz. Candidates for the 2010 festival are Amarillo, southwest Missouri and Tucumcari, N.M.

The Will Rogers Awards Event chairman was Tom Wanko, and the caterer, which drew acclaim from the attendees, was JoDanni’s Catering in the old Route 66 town of Benld, Ill.