The Route 66 Rendezvous classic-car show, canceled this year in the traditional host city of San Bernardino, Calif., because of the town’s financial woes, is moving to nearby Ontario, Calif., with a new name, according a post over the weekend from the Rendezvous’ Facebook page.
The event will be renamed the Route 66 Reunion, and will take place along Euclid Avenue in Ontario on Sept. 20-22.
According to the Facebook page’s writer:
I am existed to say that I have been hired by the Ontario Convention & Visitors Bureau to make this car show bigger and better. The San Bernardino Convention & Visitors Bureau has given me their full support and is backed me in my efforts to continue to keep the car show in the Inland Empire. However, they will keep custody of the name “Route 66 Rendezvous.”
I know you want an event like the Rendezvous to continue, and there are several other organizations willing to put their hat in the ring, but this could be the only solution to continuing a QUALITY car show like the Route 66 Rendezvous. The challenges with doing the car show on the downtown streets of San Bernardino became greater with an unpleasant element at night. We want to give the car enthusiast back the freedom they once had to relax and enjoy the reunion of family and friends while sitting next to their babe.
The Route 66 Reunion would have the same elements as the Rendezvous with vendors, entertainment, contests and a continuous 3-mile cruise route looping around Euclid Avenue from Holt Blvd to 6th Street. Euclid has 3-lanes to park cars on both sides and cruise down the middle. There are businesses, historic homes, and a beautiful grass median about 50 feet wide with trees for participants to sit under, historic monuments, and a gazebo. It really has a great feel and I think it would be a perfect location for the car participants.
I believe the Route 66 Reunion could pull the same if not more attendance and car participants as the Rendezvous. I hope you will stand by me and participate.
Organizers in February canceled the Rendezvous, scheduled for Sept. 19-22, after the City of San Bernardino filed for bankruptcy and the state eliminated funding for the San Bernardino Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The City of Ontario offered to host the Rendezvous just days after its cancellation. And organizers in March reportedly were in talks with Beaumont, Calif., to host the event.
Ontario sits about 20 miles west of San Bernardino. It never was part of Route 66, but lies just a few miles south of the Mother Road communities of Rancho Cucamonga and Upland.
UPDATE 4/23/2013: The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports that Shelly McNaul, former director of special events for now-defunct San Bernardino Convention and Visitors Bureau, wrote the Facebook post.
UPDATE2: The San Bernardino County Sun reported that San Bernardino is hosting a competing car festival the same weekend:
Meanwhile, an alternative car show, Rendezvous Back to Route 66, is scheduled for the same weekend at San Manuel Baseball Stadium in San Bernardino. The car show is being planned by the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce and car clubs, including Over the Hill Gang, according to chamber president and CEO Judi Penman.
just a little fyi thing, although Ontario doesn’t have route 66 running through it, Holt Blvd. once was route 99 which went from Arizona to the Canadian border, and was replaced by interstate 5 traversing California.
Route 99 never went to Arizona. It went from the Mexican border (MX Federal Hwy 1, Tijuana) through California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia (BC99 ends up in Whistler).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_99..THIS WILL GIVE YOU THE CORRECT INFO ON US 99
I’m just not sure how I feel about a show taking the Route 66 name when it’s not on 66, or in a town that is on 66.
Keep 66 on 66 and out of ontario…..some moron thinks its a good idea to block my right to come and go in my town. It’s NOT the route, it’s based on some idiot’s way of making cash at the expense of every person who lives between holt and 6 th. keep your shoddy idiotic moronic ideas in a place where the sun don’t shine!!
To Wayne Perumean-The Internet is full of people who love to waste other people,s time and make nasty comments.I encourage the success of the ontario route 66 show and would love to participate in it myself,it is just what Downtown Ontario needs.
I think that changing the name from Rendezous to the,reunion 66 due to the car show is not even close,to foothill it way south of on 99route.why not have it in the city of fun,and hit sit where they have the biggest 4 day fun in june.that city is Fontana Ca.its has more place’s to cruze and when it came to a 4 day weekend of route 66 rendezvous Fontana will go nut of that kind of fun think about it for next year show.
in response to having “route 66” in Fontana, as a over 30 year resident of Fontana I can tell you that having it there would be a disaster, Fontana has all but abandoned any history that was with route 66, and what is there is a slum, other than Bono’s on the west side of town, that is about it.
I’m not sure why Rancho hasn’t picked this up in the wake of San Bernardino’s loss. The Victoria Gardens area would be an amazing place to hold the show. Most of the 66 through Rancho, unless you go way up into the Upland area, is mostly commercial now so there isn’t much Historic stuff to see, but the Victoria Gardens area is one of the few places that has really invested in the Route 66 culture around here.
this bears repeating, it seems that people think Fontana is a place to go for a car show, trust me its not, and I live there..in response to having “route 66″ in Fontana, as a over 30 year resident of Fontana I can tell you that having it there would be a disaster, Fontana has all but abandoned any history that was with route 66, and what is there is a slum, other than Bono’s on the west side of town, that is about it..
I think you missed the part where I said Rancho, as in Rancho Cucamonga, not Fontana. I lived in Fontana for awhile and completely agree that it would be no better, if not worse, than San Bernardino.
I saw it, granted Victoria gardens would be a great place, but the traffic there is already a nightmare, could you imagine a car show the size of rt66 there??…one would the west of that about 2 miles in the “old part” of town would be better, but its to small.
. Move it Glen Helen and charge for admission. That’ll keep the riff-raff OUT. This is the main reason I don’t o anymore.
It needs to be reorganized to operate like OCCA’s Great Labor Day Cruise at the OC Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, CA. In fact, everyone should check the Great Labor Day Cruise.
I get what you mean you snob. Why shouldn’t a family be able to enjoy a free event as a part of their culture. Children can learn and enjoy and maybe incorporate something they learn into their future. Don’t tell me a paying customer is a good customer. I have seen what you call “riff raff” and trust me it doesn’t mean they don’t have money.
Wow i wonder if you will make it. I want to go. yes that is my comment on the bottom
I guess I should chine in here I was one of the hired managers of the Rt 66 event in 95 I expanded the event to more of a national event instead of a regional event. Here is what I think should of been done with the event. It should of been moved to Rancho Cucamunga. Not to the Victoria Gardens due to traffic problems. The base for the event should of been Quake Stadium and use the industrial area around the Stadium for Cruising. I have lived the problems with shutting down a city. Then you add residential and home owners being displaced you are creating a nightmare for the people that live in Ontario. I love the event but it really should be on the Rt 66 not Rt 99. I think in the past few years the event has lost what it is about. I know the event needs vender booths but they need to be car culture not stuffed animals in balloons. I think if managed right the event could eclipse what it was in San Bernardino if not it will be another event that people will think is a joke. Just may 2 cents let the hating begin.
the problem with good ideas is that it does not make enough money. Route 66 Rendezvous is about money not older cars and family. that the reason I quit going. but good luck Ontario.
I knew it was a matter of time when this function would leave San Bernardino. I have been a resident of the I.E. for 30yrs now and have seen S.B. go from flourish to scandalous. Apparently no public official has pride in their job or City for I have seen everything from Police Ticketing law abiding WORKING citizens for petty things like having a license plate crooked on your vehicle to Police officers getting Blow J’s from Hookers at the Smart and Final parking lot on Baseline. This town has gone down hill and I don’t see any way up for the corruption is in the blood stream of City Hall to the P.D. Sad, sad, sad. Good Luck Ontario, i won’t be attending for you are a little to far for me for I am accustomed to just walk over to the function when it rolled into town, but all good things must come to an end.
too bad, you wont be missed !!!!!