The Birthplace of Route 66 Festival in Springfield, Missouri, is expanding from two to three days this summer after returning for the first time since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year’s festival — the 10th — is slated for Aug. 11-13. According to OzarksFirst.com, organizers hope to draw 70,000 to 75,000 people to the downtown event.
The 2020 and 2021 editions of the festival were canceled because of the virus. The 2019 festival drew 65,000.
The Springfield Daily Citizen reported:
“It’s our third try at the 10th annual, but it’s going to happen,” Cora Scott, Springfield’s director of public and civic engagement, told a crowd at the History Museum on the Square Tuesday morning. “We are not only hosting the 10th annual Birthplace of Route 66 Festival this summer, we’re extending it. We’re going to actually start on Thursday night, Aug. 11, with a special kick-off event. We’re calling it the Rockin’ the Route 66 Kickoff Concert and Street Party. This will attract new interest to the festival and provide an opportunity for diverse entertainment for all ages.”
Expanding the event from two days to three is one of a few new wrinkles in the event, which started as a one-day car show in 2011. There also will be more vendors along the festival footprint, which stretches from Campbell Avenue to the Springfield Expo Center.
The Birthplace of Route 66 Festival will continue to offer free entertainment all weekend, starting with the Thursday-night show from the Emerald City Band, a cover band from Dallas, Texas.
The parade will be at 6 p.m. Friday.
The festival takes its name from a 1926 meeting of transportation officials in downtown Springfield where they informed the federal government they would accept the number “66” for their fledgling Chicago-to-Los Angeles highway.
(Screen-shot image of the 2016 Birthplace of Route 66 Festival from KLOR-TV)