An area television station provided an update on a proposed Route 66 Neon Park in St. Robert, Missouri — including that organizers hope to open at least part of it next spring.
Here’s the report from KY3 in Springfield, Missouri:
Beth Wiles, president of the Pulaski County Route 66 Preservation group, hopes to have three refurbished Route 66 signs installed at the Route 66 Neon Park in St. Robert by spring 2019. The park would be within St. Robert George M. Reed Roadside Park, which is in a median between the eastbound and westbound lanes of Route 66.
The group has nine neon signs it plans to eventually restore, and it hopes to get more.
According to the latest update last month, the group has raised more than $13,000 for the effort. Fundraising has been slower than anticipated since the proposed park was announced in 2014. It had hoped to raise $60,000 by the middle of that year.
The group hopes eventually to raise $250,000.
Pulaski County Route 66 Preservation attained federal nonprofit status in February 2014. The group has embarked on a variety of fundraising ideas, including commemorative bricks and tiles, sponsoring the park’s tailgate benches, an online store, and an Amazon Smile account. More about the organization’s fundraising can be found here.
Eligible signs for the park would be those that originally were along the route between 1926 and 1985, have been abandoned and do not have a home. The Route 66 Association of Missouri and city of St. Robert also are partners in the effort.
West Hollywood, California, has a small neon park on its stretch of Route 66, but not all the signs came from the Mother Road.
(Artist’s rendering of the proposed Route 66 Neon Park in St. Robert, Missouri, via Pulaski County Route 66 Preservation)
An excellent idea, but the question arises….will the Neon be protected by Lexan enclosures?
Considering all of the hail, thefts and vandalism that erases Route 66 artifacts forever, I hope security will be tight.