A woman is leading a fundraising effort to build welcome arches on the east and west sides of Seligman, Arizona, on Route 66.
Nancy Echeverria has raised about $23,000 so far for the project. She anticipates the arches will cost a total of $150,000. Her fundraisers have received the endorsement of the Seligman Chamber of Commerce and the family of Angel “The Guardian Angel of Route 66” Delgadillo.
Echevarria said in a phone interview the fundraiser began after her father, Patrick Russell, died last August. She said her dad grew up in Seligman, and held many memories of Route 66. He dreamed of welcome archways on both sides of town, citing the ones in nearby Williams, Arizona, as an example.
“I just wanted to do something special,” she said. “The town was very open: ‘We need to do what Williams did.'”
In lieu of flowers, Russell’s family asked for donations for the cause. That raised about $5,000.
The chamber gave another $5,000, and Echevarria said the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona awarded a matching $10,000 grant two weeks ago.
A silent auction and raffle during the Arizona Route 66 Fun Run earlier this month raised another $2,000.
Echevarria set up a GoFundMe.com campaign:
She has set up donation buckets around town, with more fundraisers during the A Taste of Strawberries Festival on June 17 at Westside Lilo’s restaurant and at Seligman Days on the third weekend in July.
Echevarria said she also will apply for state and federal grants to help build the arches. She is looking for a designer, and she’s enlisted a civil engineer to determine the best places to install them on Route 66.
“Our goal is to have Angel christen those arches on the 100th anniversary of Route 66,” she said, noting that Delgadillo would be 96 years old by that time, but he remains in excellent health.
More information about the campaign can be followed on the Seligman, AZ Welcome Arches page on Facebook.
(Image of the welcome arch on Route 66 in Williams, Arizona, by Chao Yen via Flickr)
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