The Route 66 Chick

On Tuesday, April 18, U.S. Congressman Rodney Davis (13th District, Illinois) kicked off a two-day tour  of Illinois Route 66 to highlight its significance and importance, and to draw attention to two new pieces of legislation. Illinois Representative Avery Bourne and Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway  staff, Executive Director Bill Kelly and Assistant Director Geoff Ladd, accompanied Davis on Tuesday's portion of the tour.  The Wildey Theatre marquee announced the Route 66 tour. Tuesday's stops included Livingston, Litchfield, Carlinville, and Girard after a tour kick-off under the marquee of the historic Wildey Theatre  in Edwardsville. In Edwardsville, City Administrator Tim Harr, Alton Regional CVB Executive Director Brett Stawar and staff, Wildey Theatre Manager Al Canal and staff, media, and yours truly attended the event. Representative Davis took to the lectern at 10:00 a.m. and was presented with an Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway cap by Bill Kelly. Da...

Here's my 2016 Christmas story - enjoy! Christmas Eve at the Starlite Motel Silent night .... The radio crackles. Outside, the snow falls thick and heavy, silently piling up in the quiet road. It's late afternoon, and the bad weather has finally slowed the usually-heavy traffic on this highway. It's been a slow day in the motel office. Just three check-ins. One was a young couple, Bibi and Sean, who had eyes and hands only for each other. There hadn't been much conversation with them. They just wanted to be alone. I remember what that was like, 20 years ago. But you could see they were excited to be traveling the route – they did say that this is their third trip the length of Route 66. They unzipped their parkas in the warmth of the office, and underneath their coats they sported Route 66 souvenir t-shirts from earlier stops. They were a charming and attractive couple. Sean had a wild mop of red hair and Bibi had lovely dark eyes and shiny dark hair...

12 Reasons to Attend #MilesofPossibility Route 66 Conference in Edwardsville Oct. 29-31 !! #1 Venue – historic 1909 Wildey Theatre  www.wildeytheatre.com #2 Tours – Wildey Theatre and historic Edwardsville, leave from Wildey Lobby, Thurs. noon – 5 pm #3 Pub Crawl – Recess Brewing, Stagger Inn, The Hi-Way, Springers Creek, Thurs. 5 – 10 pm #4 Stand-up Comedy – Route 66 preservationist Terri Ryburn, Stagger Inn, Thurs. evening #5 Keynote Speaker – Prof. David K. Dunaway, Wildey Auditorium, Fri. morning #6 Amazing Group of Presenters – Photos and Bios here www.bluecarpetcorridor.org/presenters.html , Fri. and Sat. during the day #7 Live on the Wildey Stage – the Road Crew Band, Wildey Auditorium, Fri. 7:30 pm #8 E-group Breakfast – Route 66 Yahoo e-group breakfast, Wildey 2 nd floor, Sat. 8 am #9 Halloween Parade - “Miners, Mobsters, and the Mother Road,” Route 66 & N. Main St., Sat. 6 pm #10 Roadie Party – Hosts Nick G...

You can find just about anything on Route 66 - including 14 authors representing a variety of genres gathered together in one local author fair at the grand re-opening of a great indie book store in a historic tourist inn in Edwardsville on Blue Carpet Corridor weekend. What?? It's the Blue Carpet Corridor Local Author Fair Sunday, June 14, at Afterwords Books, 454 East Vandalia Street - old Route 66 - in Edwardsville.  The hours are 1:00 - 4:00 pm, and, depending upon the weather, you might find authors sprinkled about not only in the main building, but on the lawn and/or in the front cabin as well. This will be the scene of a variety of activity this weekend, namely: Grand re-opening of Afterwords Books Mini walking tours of Route 66 sites along this block Edwardsville's Passport Stop - get your Blue Carpet Corridor passports stamped here Tourist Information - brochures, visitors guides, directions AND the Blue Carpet Corridor Local Author Fair featuring...

Here it is - our tentative conference schedule! MILES OF POSSIBILITY : THE EDWARDSVILLE ROUTE 66 CONFERENCE Thursday-Saturday, October 29-31, 2015 Wildey Theatre, Edwardsville, IL Sponsored by the Illinois Route 66 Blue Carpet Corridor Coalition Hosted by the City of Edwardsville TENTATIVE SCHEDULE Thursday, October 29 12:00 noon – 6:00 pm Registration, packets/goody bags/info available – Wildey lobby Afternoon -  Edwardsville Historic Districts tours – by City of Edwardsville  Historic Preservation Commission Wildey Theatre tours – by Joan Evers , Wildey Theatre historian Evening -  Route 66 Pub Crawl – Stagger Inn, Springer's Creek Winery, Hi-Way Tavern, a couple newer Main Street establishments Friday, October 30 8:00 – 10:00 am Registration, pick up packets/goody bags/info – Wildey lobby 9:00 – 9:15 am Welcome – Wildey auditorium – Mayor Hal Patton 9:00 am Author Book Store/Artist & Col...

“ Miles of Possibility: The Edwardsville Route 66 Conference” EDWARDSVILLE, ILLINOIS, TO HOST MAJOR ROUTE 66 EVENT IN 2015 The City of Edwardsville, through its consultant/advisor, Edwardsville Preservation Commissioner and author Cheryl Eichar Jett, has announced that it will host a Route 66 Conference on Halloween weekend 2015 at the city's beautifully-restored arts venue, the historic Wildey Theatre on N. Main Street, just off Route 66. Edwardsville's annual tradition of the Halloween Parade, established in 1924, will celebrate the legendary highway with a Route 66-themed parade that weekend. Planning for the event has already garnered major endorsement. The conference is being supported by the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway organization, led by William Kelly, and the National Park Service Route 66 Heritage Corridor Program, coordinated by Kaisa Barthuli. by the City of Edwardsville, the primary venue for the conference is the beautiy-restorhistoric Wilde...

No, you haven't stumbled onto one of those home- and office-organization blogs with cute names. But it really hit me on New Year's Day - it's 2015 now and this is the year of the inaugural Blue Carpet Corridor event (June) and the Edwardsville Route 66 Conference (October). So I've been keeping my nose to the grindstone (or my shoulder to the wheel, whichever trite expression you dislike the least) so far in January. A quote attributed to A. A. Milne is, "Organizing is something you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up." Well, I don't want either event to be mixed up, so this month I've stirred up a whirlwind of spreadsheets, lists, three-ring binders, emails, meetings, one-on-ones, letters, and phone calls with the intent of creating two great events. And now there's a dedicated conference phone line and a Twitter account.  So here's the scoop on what's new with the events. Just a reminder, the ina...

My new favorite quote - "Sometimes the wheel turns slowly, but it turns." - Lorne Michaels. For those of you waiting for Edwardsville Route 66 Conference news, it must seem like a very slow wheel. But take my word for it, we are making progress. Here are my updates: 1.  We are working out a few final details to be able to announce a partnership between the City of Edwardsville and a sponsoring organization. As soon as this is done we will have a webpage and a phone number. We are also waiting on the Edwardsville - Glen Carbon Chamber of Commerce to finish hammering out their "complimentary-themed" 2015 Halloween Parade theme and title. 2.  The current go-to place for information on Edwardsville and updates on the conference itself is our new Route 66 Edwardsville Facebook page! Please "like" our page at  http://www.facebook.com/Route66Edwardsville , please share it liberally, and do visit it often for conference updates, local Route 66 history, and inf...

After several hits to our Blue Carpet Corridor organization, including one sad and tragic one, we have re-organized and are once again making progress. And after some slow-downs, brainstorming, and meetings, the Edwardsville Route 66 Conference has definitely picked up steam.  As for the Blue Carpet Corridor Coalition, first we lost our vice-president (but thankfully just to an extremely busy schedule and other projects). Then on September 22, Stan Barker, our president, leader, and friend, passed away. We vowed that all that Stan worked for would not be lost and we redoubled our efforts to re-organize and move forward with BCC plans. To that end, after some gentle arm-twisting, I traded in my secretary hat for the president's hat. Dave Tucker of Taylor's Mexican Chili in Carlinville (check out their story at  http://www.taylorschili.com ) more than stepped up to the plate and now serves as our very active vice-president.  Suzanne Gray of Virden as secretary and Gl...

With a meeting this morning gathering officials from the City of Edwardsville, a representative from the Edwardsville/Glen Carbon Chamber of Commerce, and yours truly, planning meetings for the 2015 Edwardsville Route 66 Conference have begun in earnest! Some details were hammered out, other aspects of the event came under discussion, great ideas were put forth for evaluation, and a planning structure was put in place to move forward with the event. At last we have definite dates and days to announce and thus a framework on which to hang the conference and the social events!  For those wishing to begin making their travel plans, please note that the Edwardsville Route 66 Conference will be Thursday afternoon - Saturday evening, October 29 - 31, 2015. The Wildey Theatre is confirmed as the venue, although there is discussion of an additional venue for activities. The host hotels in Edwardsville should be announced next week! And rest assured, there is PLENTY of lodging in ...

Here's #8 of Edwardsville's Route 66 history. This story originally ran in the April 2013 issue of the Prairie Land Buzz  in my "Along Route 66" column. The Route 66 Alignment That Never Was: Alternative Edwardsville Route Opposed by Local Businessmen by Cheryl Eichar Jett It was 1938, and life on Route 66 flowed through Edwardsville. The highway brought heavy traffic from the northern part of the state up Mooney Hill northeast of Edwardsville and from St. Louis and points west through Mitchell in the American Bottom up onto the bluffs southwest of Edwardsville. Once in town, travelers and tourists found plenty of local services to entice their tired bones out of their automobiles and trucks. No matter which direction they were coming from, motorists found plenty of local establishments along Hillsboro Road, Vandalia Street, St. Louis Street, and West Street to fill their gas tanks and their stomachs and perhaps stay a night or shop for snacks or s...