Several area officials, including Oklahoma’s lieutenant governor and Tulsa’s mayor, helped dedicate the enormous Route 66 Rising sculpture Tuesday at Avery Traffic Circle in Tulsa.
The $682,000 sculpture, paid for with Vision 2025 sales-tax money in Tulsa County, is about 70 feet long and 30 feet tall. It sits at Mingo Road and Admiral Place, a key intersection of the 1926-1932 alignment of Route 66.
The dedication originally had been scheduled in late May, but bad weather delayed it. The sculpture mostly was finished in December.
The Tulsa World reported:
“We are doing a lot of work on Route 66 right now and that’s after decades of under-investment,” Mayor G.T. Bynum said. “But now I think everyone in the community has woken up to the opportunities that are presented by drawing people from all around the world.” […]
The artist of the statue, Eric F. Garcia, was chosen with the approval of the Tulsa Arts Commission in 2016, said city spokeswoman Lara Weber. Garcia fabricated the sculpture in New Mexico and installed the sculpture in Tulsa from fall 2017 to early 2019.
In a statement, Garcia said his work was inspired by “a time when the Oklahoma dust bowl was a reminder of the hard times during the Depression and how the Old Route was a symbol of hope.”
Joy Avery, a granddaughter to Cyrus “Father of Route 66” Avery of Tulsa, also attended:
Joy Avery also shared some words about her grandfather’s influence on the famous highway. She read a poem that detailed her experience attending her first international Route 66 meeting in Springfield, Illinois.
“I learned from the people there how much they depended on Route 66,” Joy Avery said in a statement.
Joy cut the ribbon alongside those who have been working on the project.
Ken Busby of the Route 66 Alliance shot video of Joy Avery’s poem:
Oklahoma’s No. 2 politician weighed in at the ceremony:
“It’s really perfect that we now have a sculpture that’s really demonstrating that Route 66 is red hot. It’s red hot in Oklahoma and it’s red hot around the country and states that have Route 66 in them have to take advantage of it,” Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell said.
Here’s a video from the occasion by KTUL of Tulsa:
Here’s the video from News on 6 of Tulsa:
NewsOn6.com – Tulsa, OK – News, Weather, Video and Sports – KOTV.com |
It’s hoped the sculpture will lead to more tourists in the often-overlooked Admiral Place alignment of Route 66, which is rougher around the edges but leads travelers to such gems as Hank’s Hamburgers and the Circle Cinema.
(Image of the Route 66 Rising sculpture in Tulsa by Bret Bradford via Facebook)