Inspired by last year’s International Route 66 Festival, residents and the city of Kingman, Arizona, are planning on a big Route 66 event each year, reported the Daily Miner newspaper.
The festival will be called Best of the West on Route 66, and it will combine popular car shows and the annual Andy Devine Days parade and rodeo. The newly revamped event is set for Sept. 25-27. The festival also has a Facebook page here.
More details about the event:
- The event will include an induction ceremony to the Route 66 Walk of Fame.
- The Route 66 Authors, Artists & Collectors exposition will return.
- Area Route 66 author and ambassador Jim Hinckley is on board with the event.
- The festival will return to Locomotive Park, with entertainment, food booths and vendors.
- The event already has received commitments from the Mohave County Fairgrounds and the organizer of the annual PRCA rodeo.
- Flash Cadillac, a popular retro band, has been hired to play at the high-school auditorium.
- TNT Auto Center again will sponsor the car show.
- Kingman is lobbying for sponsorships from area mining companies.
- The police department again will take are of traffic logistics.
According to varying reports, the 2014 festival drew 8,000 people from 32 states and 24 countries. The festival usually is an annual event, although this year organizers are planning a scaled-down Route 66 Conference in October in Edwardsville, Illinois.
(Image of Route 66 decorative lights in Kingman’s Powerhouse Museum by Frank Swift via Flickr)