Residents of Devils Elbow, Missouri, and the surrounding area are issuing a call for donations of certain supplies to help decorate the historic Devils Elbow Bridge for the Christmas season.
The Daily Guide in nearby Waynesville, Missouri, reported the decorations and holiday lighting used on the bridge in the last few years once were stored in a Devils Elbow home. Record flooding last spring washed away the house, along with the decorations.
Devils Elbow resident Angie Hale and other townsfolk are collecting items to help decorate the bridge again. The newspaper reported:
The items she and her team are collecting include outside single strand multi-color LED and multi-color icicles, zip ties to secure decorations to the bridge, wreaths, single strand LED and icicle soft white lights, rolls of painter’s tape, two sets of 16 feet red rope lights, two timers, two 10 gauge 100 ft. outdoor extension cords, and cash donations. New or used items are accepted, but new is preferred.
Donations can be dropped off at either the Pulaski County Tourism Bureau and Visitors Center in St. Robert to Beth Wiles, the Executive Director of Pulaski County Tourism Bureau, or Agent Angie Hale’s office located at Dan Mense Bail Bonds Office 229B Historic Route 66 in Waynesville (next door to Cape Air).
Hale said she would like items to be donated by Wednesday, November 22, because “the plan is to decorate the bridge.” Hale also said she is doing this drive for donations “only because all was lost in the flood.”
Wiles said monetary donations also may be made to this person at the following address:
Bill Debo
c/o Pulaski County Tourism
137 St. Robert Blvd., Suite A
St. Robert, MO 65584
The truss bridge, built in 1923 along an original alignment of Route 66, sits near the Elbow Inn restaurant and bar, a hangout for Route 66ers, bikers and Fort Leonard Wood soldiers.
The bridge first was decorated for the holidays in 2014 after a rehabilitation project for the structure finished in May. That decoration effort, too, largely was fueled by donations.
Having the bridge lighted for Christmas likely will give a symbolic lift to residents who still are struggling in the wake of the flood. The bridge — largely because it was repaired just a few years ago — remains one of the few structures that emerged unscathed from the disaster.
(Image of the Devils Elbow Bridge decorated for Christmas in 2014 courtesy of Jackie Welborn)