Tulsa to begin taking neon-sign applications Monday

The Tulsa Route 66 Commission on Monday will begin taking applications to restore old neon signs or create new ones along the city’s stretch of the Mother Road.

According to Public Radio Tulsa:

The grants will provide dollar-for-dollar matches up to $10,000 for half the cost of new or refurbished neon signs along both alignments of the Mother Road in Tulsa. […]

The commission has $40,000 available for grants now, and there will be another $40,000 at the start of the new fiscal year. Commission member Amanda DeCort said there’s been interest from around two dozen people so far and from groups in every other state the Mother Road runs through.

One Route 66 business already has announced it would apply: Billy Ray’s Catfish and BBQ along the Southwest Boulevard section of Tulsa.

The Tulsa World reported:

Cindy Turner attended the announcement Thursday afternoon at Mother Road Market. Turner, the daughter of Billy Ray, hopes to use the grant to restore the original sign that went up when Billy Ray’s Catfish and BBQ opened in 1984.

Turner said Billy Ray asked his mother to write his name on a piece of paper, which he had turned into the rectangular neon sign that still stands at 3524 S.W. Blvd.

“We have always been thankful that we were fortunate enough to get a location right on Mother Road when Billy Ray purchased the land and building,” Turner said. “This is a testament and an honor toward Billy Ray and his mother as both are not with us anymore. So we’re very excited to have that back up and representing all that he wanted Billy Ray’s to be.”

Billy Ray Cooper, the founder of the restaurant, died in 2017 at age 65.

Application forms for Tulsa’s Route 66 neon-sign grant program are here. The Tulsa Route 66 Commission also will host a neon-sign grant workshop April 23 at the historic Circle Cinema in Tulsa.

(Image of the Billy Ray’s Catfish and BBQ neon sign in Tulsa via Facebook)

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