These photos from the Illinois Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor Festival in Pontiac, Ill., were shot by Cathie Stevanovich, president of the Illinois Route 66 Association.
For all practical purposes, the weekend served as a tribute to Route 66 hippie, artist and Illinois native Bob Waldmire, who died of cancer in December 2009. Festival-goers, including Stevanovich (below), were allowed to apply their painted handprints to Waldmire’s last commissioned artwork — a mural of a map of Route 66 on a downtown building.
The Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum also opened to the public a former school bus that was converted into a home by Waldmire.
The best report of the Waldmire-related events was by Emily Priddy (aka Redforkhippie), who participated.
UPDATE 5/10/2011: Here’s a report from the Pontiac Daily Leader about the weekend’s attendance, including more than 1,000 who toured the Waldmire bus. Tourism director Ellie Alexander said the festival was supposed to end by 3 p.m. Sunday, but officials extended it to 5 p.m. to accommodate the continuing inflow of crowds.
Redforkhippie also posted a blog about Waldmire’s bus. The Daily Leader also published a story about the Waldmire family dedicating the bus to the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum. This excerpt is particularly poignant:
Cathie Stevanovich, president of Route 66 Association of Illinois, became emotional recalling her memories of Bob Waldmire.
“We have a group coming from Czechoslovakia this afternoon. We’ve had visitors already this year from all over this country and many foreign countries. And it reminds me of how Bob would really enjoy all this because he related to everyone. He was just that type of guy,” she said.
“He lived his whole life as a lover of Route 66 and a believer in preserving its significance.”
Stevanovich also shared the memory of picking up the bus and the VW bus, located in the Route 66 museum, from the Waldmire property in Rochester.
“The Gray family was just phenomenal, volunteering their time and tow trucks. But what was really amazing was we stopped and checked on the vehicles in Towanda. That’s when Roger (Gray) said we were coming the rest of the way home on Route 66. We had people following us, people literally turning around to catch a glimpse of this bus. And Roger insisted that we bring him home on Route 66. It was an amazing journey,” she said. “And I want to personally thank the Waldmire family for entrusting us with these treasures.”
UPDATE 5/11/2011: The Daily Leader published a story about Dave Jostes and his Chevrolet Chevelle, which is decorated with Waldmire’s artwork.
Here are more photos from the weekend, courtesy of Robert Roarty:
That was one of the nicest Route 66 festivals I’ve seen. Pontiac has a great downtown, and it was great to catch up with the old crowd from Illinois. It was a little bittersweet — seeing Bob’s van made me cry — but I couldn’t be too sad, knowing how Bob would have smiled at the thought of so many people having so much fun getting involved in his mural and looking at his home and his vehicles.
If anybody is interested, I posted a bunch of pictures from the interior of Bob’s bus here: https://redforkhippie.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/bobs-bus/