Blue Carpet Corridor Saturday, June 10, invitation

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Hoping that many of you can join us on Saturday, June 10, from Virden to Collinsville for the third annual Blue Carpet Corridor festival celebration! Here's our press release:

Blue Carpet Corridor will hold third annual Route 66 event on Saturday, June 10

The Illinois Route 66 Blue Carpet Corridor will be celebrating its third annual festival event on Saturday, June 10. From Virden down to Collinsville on several historic alignments of Route 66, twelve communities will be offering car shows, festivals, museum and attraction open hours, children's activities, food, photo ops, and fun.


Souvenir Blue Carpet Corridor 2017 passports will be available for free in all the participating communities, and visitors can get a unique stamp in each town. The complete list of passport stops is available at www.bluecarpetcorridor.org. Passport Stop open hours will be from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, and many events and attractions will also follow that schedule. Also available on the website is a downloadable Schedule of Passport Stops and Activities.


Communities participating this year are: Virden, Girard, Carlinville, Gillespie, Staunton, Hamel, Edwardsville, Litchfield, Mt. Olive, Glen Carbon, Troy, and Collinsville. The Illinois Route 66 Red, White, and Blue Corridor is comprised of Red in the north, White in the center, and Blue in the south, dividing the 300-mile stretch of the historic highway approximately into thirds. Red Carpet Corridor holds an annual celebration in May, Blue Carpet Corridor's annual event is in June, and White Carpet Corridor celebrates with events in July.

Highlights of this year's one-day Blue Carpet Corridor event will include open hours and tours at area museums and historic buildings, including the Litchfield Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center, the Illinois Coal Museum at Gillespie, the Mother Jones Museum and Soulsby Station in Mt. Olive, the Glen Carbon Heritage Museum, and the D. D. Collins House and Historic Miner's Theatre in Collinsville. All-day established Route 66 festivals at Edwardsville and Staunton will be joined by a new Collinsville Route 66 History Festival. Additionally, some passport stops may offer souvenirs, historical information, t-shirts, food, or beverages. The Edwardsville Passport Stop will feature a Local Author Fair and Book Signing, with fiction, nonfiction, and Route 66 authors/artists.

New this year is the awarding of the “Route 66 Royalty” traveling trophy to the car club with the most passport stop check-ins. Additional activities and events are listed at www.bluecarpetcorridor.org.

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