Pantagraph.com Weather forecast, local radar and more
NewsSaturday, May 3, 2008 11:28 PM CDT
Towanda rolling out Route 66 festival
Advertisement

TOWANDA — Kicks and Route 66 go hand in hand. Especially if you’re in Towanda.

The local bar and grill will host a lineup of classic cars today as part of the second annual Red Carpet Corridor Festival along Route 66. A disc jockey will be providing entertainment.

Kicks assistant manager Jammie Hinthorn said the bar and grill benefits from drivers of vintage cars and bikers enjoying the route.

“As soon as the weather gets nice you’ll see a lot of old cars driving down Route 66,” he said.

Hinthorn said the route is used by Central Illinois bikers who do “poker runs,” in which they stop at bars along the route and get a playing card at each bar. The bar and grill organizes three parties per year in its parking lot for those traveling the Mother Road.

The two-day Red Corridor festival started Saturday with a variety of celebrations in towns along the highway throughout Central Illinois, including Towanda, Lexington and Chenoa.

Lexington hosted a pancake breakfast at St. Paul Church and citywide garage sales Saturday. Drivers could travel down “Memory Lane” visiting “Shoppes on Main,” The Filling Station, Shake Shack and other local businesses.

Towanda had a communitywide garage sale, with 40 vendors selling their goods. Mayor Jim Arteman said the vendors’ fee will go to the Pontiac Tourism Bureau to pay for the festival’s advertising.

Some entrepreneurs traveled miles to sell their wares. Barb Scott of Bloomington was selling products from her home-based business, Kel-leigh’s Candles, and Carol and Dan Boettcher of Belleville were selling sterling silver. The five-piece rhythm and blues band Velvet Groove performed such songs as Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Pride and Joy.”

Local officials from Towanda to Joliet formed the Red Carpet Corridor to market their stretch of the highway after the U.S Department of Transportation designated the Illinois Historic Route 66 one of 45 American Scenic Byways a couple of years ago.

“It (Route 66) helps the community,” Arteman said. He said the Towanda FS gas station receives a lot of business from drivers traveling the route, and Kicks does “pretty well.”

Take a look
Georgianna Cunningham and her great-grandson Donavin Pates, 5, look at yard signs Saturday (May 3, 2008) during the Illinois Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor Experience at North Park in Towanda. (Pantagraph/CARLOS T. MIRANDA)
Video
Most commented stories
Browse online archives
Recent issues:
Reader comments on this story - 9 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Political Heretic wrote on May 6, 2008 6:17 PM:

" To easy. No thanks. This is my therapy. "

easy wrote on May 5, 2008 7:46 PM:

" P.H.: Get some help. "

94mustang5 wrote on May 5, 2008 8:21 AM:

" I felt sorry for the vendors Saturday. fortunatly the weather did clear eventually.
The band sounded great. "

Political Heretic wrote on May 5, 2008 6:21 AM:

" To dubito, ergo cogito. I've heard this argument before. Here's why it's wrong. Route 66 may have been constructed in 1926, but everything that happened related to it that put it in the national psyche, from the song to the television show to the height of it's use and the wasteful car-worshipping culture it spawned, happened in between 1947-1964. In other words, when the Boomers were being born. Checkmate?
To easy. Mindless nothing. My words are a valid criticism of the worst generation our county has ever known. "

dubito, ergo cogito wrote on May 4, 2008 11:26 PM:

" To Political Heretic: "66" was founded in November of 1926. Long before any "boomers" Check your facts before unloading on a whole segment of society. "

old biker wrote on May 4, 2008 10:51 PM:

" Aww, Yer just jealous 'cause those Gen-Xer's haven't contributed anything musically, culturally or any other way. Stop cryin' we'll share our stuff. "

easy wrote on May 4, 2008 9:52 PM:

" Heretic: Rant mindlessly much? "

crooner wrote on May 4, 2008 6:48 PM:

" Hey I was in Towanda. The feastival was great, it was cold and windy, but the rain held back. The band Velvet Groove sounded really good. Like a veteran band. To my understanding that was there first gig. Too bad the crowd was not there to hear them. Looking forward to hearing them again. "

Political Heretic wrote on May 4, 2008 7:44 AM:

" Ah. The Boomers and THEIR nostalgia. I recently asked my fellow Gen-Xers if they felt anything for Route 66 and the answer was unambiguous. No. No. No. Take note of the look of apathy on the little boy's face in the picture while his GREAT-GRANDMOTHER tries to impart how wonderful this geriatric celebration is. Route 66 is a crumbling mass of poorly maintained concrete that should be allowed to disintegrate back into the natural order, just like all other historically insignificant junk culture icons. The fact that its memory keeps getting resurrected is just yet another sign of how this spoiled generation feels everything should be about them and that anything that came afterwards is inferior. Why? Once again, BECAUSE IT'S NOT ABOUT THEM! Self-obsessed, self-indulgent, the worst parents this country have ever known, and guiltless feeling about the cesspool they've created and left for prosperity, it's time for these folks to be locked away and forgotten about in the same windowless rabbit hutch nursing homes they put their immediate ancestors in before them. "

Add your own comments

Please read the rules before posting comments.

You must be logged in to leave comments.
If you don't have a member ID, please register.

*Member ID:
*Password:
Remember login?
(requires cookies)
  Forgot Your Password?