Colorado-based artist and writer Colby Helzer has launched a Kickstarter campaign for her “Neon Notes: Postmarked from the Road,” a Route 66 Centennial Certified Project.
The campaign aims to raise $15,000 for the project.
Here’s what Helzer wrote about it:
Neon Notes: Postmarked from the Road is an independent Route 66 archival storytelling project created by Fort Collins-based writer and artist Colby Helzer. The project documents small-town stories, roadside businesses, historic motels, diners, service stations, signage, ephemera, local characters, and the people still keeping the Mother Road alive during Route 66’s Centennial year.
The project has been designated a Route 66 Centennial Certified Project by the U.S. Route 66 Centennial Commission and the Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership. Through zines, photography, field notes, postcards, interviews, audio, and mailed dispatches, Neon Notes aims to preserve not only what Route 66 looks like, but what it feels like to move through it slowly and attentively.
Helzer has already completed multiple zines connected to Route 66 communities and is preparing for summer field reporting along the Route. A Kickstarter pre-launch page is now available to support the next phase of the project, which will focus on field documentation, community storytelling, and physical artifacts mailed from the road.
Disclosure: Neon Notes is an advertiser on Route 66 News.
(An image of Neon Notes field materials and zines via Colby Helzer)