New tourism info center and events on the Blue Carpet Corridor!

The second annual Blue Carpet Corridor weekend (BCC II) is coming up June 11-12, but in the meantime, it's not just spring flowers that are opening on this stretch of Illinois Route 66 from Chatham to Collinsville.

Hot news is the new Tourist Information Center in Edwardsville! Through a partnership between Cindy Reinhardt, Edwardsville historian and author, and LuAnn Locke, owner of Afterwords Books, travelers can now stop and pick up brochures and information about Edwardsville's attractions, restaurants, and lodging! The new tourist stop is located inside Afterwords Books at 454 E. Vandalia (Route 66), the former Cathcart-Goddard Tourist Inn which served travelers during the Route 66 era. Here's the link to an article about the new tourist stop in the Edwardsville Intelligencer:  http://www.theintelligencer.com/local_news/article_25b4426a-f362-11e5-b7e1-7f206585a36e.html



This past weekend, there were at least three events on the BCC--in Litchfield, Hamel, and Edwardsville.

Litchfield celebrated the Grand Opening weekend and also the 66th birthday of the Sky View Drive-In on Friday-Sunday, April 1-3. The Sky View has new owners, Nick and Mindy Pastrovich, and Nick's parents, Mike and Debbie Pastrovich. The Hillsboro Journal-News ran an article about the next phase of the Sky View:  http://www.thejournal-news.net/news/local_news/sky-view-drive-in-celebrates-years-on-route/article_47c91ff6-f6e1-11e5-bf26-fb6d549f9b2a.html
And here's the Sky View's new website:  http://www.litchfieldskyview.com



In Hamel, Route 66 Ridez held their first Cruise In of the 2016 season. Traffic was winding down by the time I got there late Saturday afternoon, but there were still hot dogs and chips available in the very cool vintage kitchen and a group of people talking vehicles and 66. If you haven't stopped here, you'll enjoy seeing the kitchen and shopping in the souvenir shop.
http://www.route66ridez.com




On the SIUE campus in Edwardsville, a one-man play about Buckminster Fuller was presented in the Fuller Dome on the 90th Meridian! The History (and Mystery) of the Universe, a play by Douglas Jacobs, was presented Thursday and Friday evenings by SIUE Arts and Issues and by the Center of Spirituality and Sustainability, which is located in the Fuller geodesic dome. Jacobs himself was delightful and thought-provoking playing Fuller. The Fuller Dome is one of my very favorite places around Edwardsville, and is a little-known treasure along Route 66 (a separate blog post about the Fuller Dome coming up soon). http://www.fullerdome.org




Coming up on Saturday, May 14, is an event in Collinsville, Rockin' for the Miners 3, to raise funds for the restoration of the historic Miner's Institute Theatre in Collinsville. The Miner's "friends of" group is hoping to get this magnificent and large theater building completely restored by its 2018 centennial. If you want to know more about the Miner's, check out their website and/or read my article, "Movie Palaces:  Historic Theaters along the Blue Carpet Corridor--Part One," in the April 2016 issue of the Prairie Land Buzzwww.thebuzzmonthly.com
http://historicminersinstitute01.businesscatalyst.com



And speaking of the Blue Carpet Corridor, we'll have the complete list of passport stops and other information on this year's event soon. For now, mark your calendars for Saturday-Sunday, June 11-12! www.bluecarpetcorridor.org

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