This post will be a placekeeper of tidbits and news from the just-completed International Route 66 Festival in Joplin, Mo.
First off, here’s an unedited video from the Friday part of the festival weekend that includes Gary Turner at Gay Parita station and the Boots Motel:
Longtime roadie Jennifer Bremer posted about 130 photos from her trip to the festival.
And here’s a pretty good photo gallery by the Joplin Globe newspaper.
Some odds and ends:
- Longtime roadie Joe Sonderman called it the “best Route 66 International Festival ever.“
- “The “Cars” night at the 66 Drive-In in nearby Carthage was unqualified success. Depending on who you ask, from 1,200 to 1,600 children were at the long-sold-out event.
- Downtown Galena, Kan., which held a festival in conjunction with the Joplin event, probably was as crowded as it had been in many years.
- On a related note, Pixar’s involvement gave the festival a boost.
- The unveiling of the tile Route 66 murals in Galena and Joplin that weekend provided the double benefit of adding attractions to both cities and notable events for the festival.
If there was a disappointment, it was the awards banquet going on a hiatus. I think organizers took at least a year off from that part of the event because of its declining attendance and there being too many awards handed out or too many repeat winners. Plus the dinner had always been a big time- and money-suck. Perhaps the Alliance thought the people who ran themselves ragged organizing it needed a break.
As soon as there’s a report on overall attendance at the festival, I’ll post it here. In the meantime, what did you think?
UPDATE: KODE-TV reported that small businesses in the area — including the Old Riverton Store in Riverton, Kan. — saw an upswing.
The Joplin Globe reported about 8,000 attended the festival Saturday, with attendees from 14 countries. And reaction to the festival was almost universally positive.
Two things the festival did differently from previous ones:
- It was organized by the host city, and not the state Route 66 association.
- Thanks to involvement of “Cars” and Pixar, the Joplin festival was much more heavily attended by children.
The Globe reported this moment with Route 66 Alliance co-founder Rick Freeland at the 66 Drive-In in Carthage during a special screening of “Cars” on Thursday night:
“This woman stopped me and asked me if I was responsible for putting the festival on,” Freeland said during a telephone interview Monday from Tulsa, Okla. “I said I was a member of the organization that did.
“She thanked me, and then her 5-year-old son grabs me by the legs and gives me a great big hug, and then looks up at me and says: ‘Thank you.’ I got down on my knee and gave him a hug.
“It chokes me up when I think about it. He was not a Route 66 roadie, but he was grateful for what we were doing for him.” […]
“It’s got to involve the kids; that’s what was missing,” he said. “It’s all about the roadies. They come and do what they have always done. This time in Joplin, there were tons of things for the kids. There was the ‘Cars’ movie in Carthage. It was all about the kids. The ‘Cars’ characters in Galena, Kan., and Joplin, and the young roadies parade. We had never had one of those before.”
We drove down from NE Kansas to celebrate a family birthday which, as luck would have it, coincided with the first day of the festival. We arrived in Joplin on the 31st, drove Kansas 66 and visited Cars on the Route (looking great, though we all still puzzle over the attraction of a so-called “murder brothel,” and the complications of taking your children to visit Cars on the Route and having to explain what a “brothel” is–but I digress). Cars on the Route is looking great, and we enjoyed, as always, a trip to the Eisler Bros./Old Riverton Store.
We came mainly for the event at the drive-in, and it did not disappoint. It was not our first trip to Carthage, but it was the first time we had gone inside the drive-in grounds, and it was great. The grounds and facility look well maintained, and the whole atmosphere was positive and festive. I love an old drive-in, especially one that still provides a playground for the kids. Before we went to the movie, we enjoyed a great dinner at the Thai Spice restaurant in Webb City.
Though we didn’t partake of any festival events other than the showing of Cars at the drive-in, we really enjoyed our stay in Joplin. When we left on the 2nd, we paid a visit to the Boots Court in Carthage, and it is sure looking good with the new neon sign and restored roof. After our visit, we finally drove the old alignment that runs behind the drive-in (way cool!) and the drove over the “whee bridge” four or five times.
We were blown away Fri night in Galena. Town was all fixed up. Great stage and two really good bands kept the music going into the late evening. They attracted quite a few really nice cars for the car show. Booths, vendors and downtown businesses seemed really busy. It got pretty crowded in the afternoon. It was much better than we expected and we had a really good time.
Saturday in Joplin was also a blast. Again, lots of booths and vendors out on the street. Car show started a little late but then ended up overflowing the main street venue and out into the parking area. Spent a lot of time visiting with the car owners.
Two issues; the lack of map, directions, schedule and information made it a little confusing but volunteer staff were good about answering questions. The building with the authors, exhibitors, and displays was not well marked or promoted and I suspect missed by many attendees based on the lack of crowds in that area.
We didn’t miss the lack of a banquet since we have not attended any in the past. Not a big attraction to us.
I would say based on the number of booths, the size of the crowds and overall quality of the two venues that this year was a solid success. I know we enjoyed it a lot.
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for posting my photos at Flickr! I also posted a recap of our trip and our time at the festival at my blog; feel free to link it in your post. we had such a wonderful time, meeting old friends and making a few new ones. Wish we could have stayed even a day longer to attend the Joplin festival that evening, but Galena put together a great festival, the drive-in was terrific, and of course, the e-group breakfast!
Another thing I’d like to mention was that I thought their organization and information was fantastic. Their website was perfect; it had a list of the date, time, and address of everything that was happening. I was even able to load all of the events I wanted to attend onto my iOS calendar with a click of a button. That put all of the info onto my iPhone and all I had to do was click the location, and it brought up a map and directions – very sweet. If one preferred to go old school, the events calendar could be printed.
We drove our classic car 820 miles from Ohio to the festival and it was well worth it! We had a great time and made some new friends and revisited some old ones. Being our first festival, I thought it was well organized. One thing that impressed us the most was the number of local folks that thanked us for coming such a long distance to visit their area and adding to their economy. We loved the car shows in both Galena and Joplin.The other thing others have mentioned was how much stuff there was for kids to see and do. Watching Michael Wallace doing his thing with the young kids was great! He had us laughing. Thanks Michael for doing that and being there.