New murals that recently were painted in Collinsville and Edwardsville, Illinois, and Yukon, Oklahoma, are brightening the drive on Route 66 in those towns.
The one that was finished this week in Edwardsville is part of the Route 66 Mural Art Trail, where 12 murals are planned along Route 66 in Illinois.
The Edwardsville mural at Vandalia and Main streets was painted by St. Louis Sign & Mural’s Daniel Ricketts and two other artists, reported the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The company also recently finished its first mural in Collinsville.
Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau was the recipient of state aid for that project and others.
In May, the tourism bureau received a state grant for $919,000 to pay for the murals and a series of other projects. Towns expecting murals are Hamel, Granite City, Livingston, Staunton, Carlinville, Girard, Gillespie, Virden, Litchfield and East St. Louis. Their artwork will also be personalized, with nods to Granite City steel, Litchfield’s 1924 Ariston Café and Staunton’s Henry’s Rabbit Ranch (which includes both Volkswagen Rabbits and furry hoppers). One East St. Louis symbol will be a trumpet.
The tourism bureau also plans to use the grant over the next few years for six monuments, restoration of the “Cannonball Jail” in Macoupin County and transformation of the West End Service Station, 620 St. Louis Street in Edwardsville, as a new interpretative and educational museum and Route 66 visitor center.
A few hundred miles west in Oklahoma, the president of that state’s Route 66 association recently flagged this new mural, “Yukon Sunset,” along Route 66 in Yukon, just west of Oklahoma City. The mural is at 528 W. Main St. (aka Route 66).
Yukon 66 Main Street is hosting a ribbon cutting on Aug. 18 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The mural was created by Tox Murillo of Enid, Oklahoma, and prints of the artwork will be available as well.
The Yukon Progress newspaper reported:
“Route 66 is something historical for me,” Murillo said. “If you are from another country or another state, you know Route 66. It’s something really special for me to be doing this mural on this road.
“I believe this project is going to bring a lot of attention – not just to this building, but to the road. It’s going to be something cool and bright.”
Mural project coordinator Stephanie Hale believes this vibrant artwork will have a tremendous impact on Yukon’s Main Street landscape.
“When you’re an Okie, sometimes you forget how beautiful Oklahoma is,” said Hale, a Yukon native and downtown business owner. “I think this will let us ‘renew’ ourselves to the beauty of Oklahoma.
“I have an invested interest because I have a store one block down, so I want to look at that every day. It’s another one of our projects helping beautify Main Street.”
“Yukon Sunset” was funded in partnership with a Keep Oklahoma Beautiful roadside grant, BancFirst of Yukon and mostly by private donations.
(Image of Edwardsville mural via Great Rivers & Routes; image of Collinsville mural via St. Louis Sign and Mural; image of Tox Murillo and his new mural in Yukon, Oklahoma, via Yukon 66 Main Street)