The closed Fanning 66 Outpost, best known for the formerly World’s Largest Rocker on its premises, will reopen later the summer after a local businessman bought it.
Ryan Thompson, owner of Route 66 Mercantile in nearby Cuba, Missouri, closed on the purchase of the property this week. Route 66 Mercantile is part of the former Route 66 Diner property in downtown.
Thompson said in a texts and emails the complex in the small Route 66 town of Fanning, Missouri, west of Cuba, said he plans to first reopen the Fanning Feed store on the property, then a Route 66 Candy Shoppe and, finally, Fanning 66 Outpost. He anticipates everything will be running within 30 to 60 days.
He wrote:
The general store and feed store are going to stay the same for the most part; however, the archery shop will be changed and more directed towards tourists with Gourmet Popcorn, homemade fudge, candy and lots of different soda.
As for the big rocking chair, it stays with the property. However, Thompson wrote this tantalizing sentence:
[…] I would say it is a safe bet that in due time the Record for the World’s Largest Rocking Chair will return to Missouri =-).
Fanning 66 Outpost closed in August 2016 because of “economic conditions.”
Danny and Carolyn Sanazaro opened Fanning Route 66 Outpost as a feed store, hunting-supplies store and souvenir shop in 2007.
They built the World’s Largest Rocker a year later to draw curious travelers. The chair stood 42 feet tall, more than 20 feet wide and weighed 27,000 pounds. The Guinness Book of World Records certified it at the time as the world’s largest rocking chair shortly. The chair could rock, but it was welded down for safety reasons.
The World’s Largest Rocker appeared on countless television shows and all over the Internet. It became the finish line for the annual Race to the Rocker foot race from nearby Cuba.
The rocker lost its “world’s largest” bragging rights when a bigger one was built in Casey, Illinois. Sanazaro repainted the chair red in 2015 and rechristened it Route 66 Red Rocker. Rumor was the color scheme and name were a bid to draw former Van Halen singer Sammy “The Red Rocker” Hagar — a favorite act in the St. Louis region — to the business.
I’m so happy for the return! My husband is excited for the Feed Store!