What a strange Winter this year! Snow has been here and there – and some days so nice it was hard to remember it’s still Winter! I would rather do Winter in February and March than snow in April, May or June. Whenever it’s too nice, I think 1967 and the snowstorm that landlocked many of us.
It’s going to be a HUGE year for travelers on the road! I have emails and phone calls of people planning on coming on the road, and wanting to line up their visit with festivals and events! I have to remind people not every town has a parade or festival when they’re visiting – it only seems that way!
Motor Tour is on track – Jerry Law is working hard with Board Members and volunteers, planning a tour with new places and faces as well as some of our tried and trues.
We will be returning to the Edwardsville Mother Road Festival for our Friday night kick-off and Saturday morning we will cross over the Chain of Rocks Bridge. New stops include the Wooden Nickel Winery in Litchfield, Curve Inn in Springfield, our overnight is at Lincoln with the Hall of Fame banquet at Lincoln College where we’ve had some really fabulous food and programs.
Kudos to Marty Blitstein, Duke Cartwright, and Debbie Bates for meeting up with Geoff Ladd and Chef Warren Wendlandt and his staff in Lincoln and working on the room setup, menu and pricing. A lot of time is spent behind the scenes by volunteers so that the tour is “seamless” as much as a tour of several hundred can be!
Along the way we’re doing a tree dedication for the late Jim Allen in Hamel, visiting the new Pontiac-Oakland museum in Pontiac and ending our tour with great music and food in Lloyd Erickson Park in Elwood. (If you can’t make the tour, make sure you join us that Sunday for our end-of-tour festivities in Elwood!)
Red Carpet Festival is set – May 5th and 6th, 90 miles of fun from Joliet to Towanda!
This year each community will have a different key – so make your plans to celebrate and collect all 13 keys. The community of Elwood joins in this year adding another stop to your fun! The Route 66 Association of Illinois Hall of Fame and Museum is lending out their 2nd floor for a special exhibit, “Remembering the 1940s” so come for the fun, stay for the nostalgia. Bob Waldmire’s bus will be open for tours and photo opportunities starting Red Carpet weekend!
Workdays are planned – there is a workday at the Hall of Fame and Museum on Sunday, March 25th, our annual Spring clean up and Annual Dorothy Seratt McMullen and Cathie Stevanovich birthday/workday bash in April.
Watch the website for upcoming Preservation projects workdays. Come out and get your hands dirty! Preservation is fun!
Have you sent in your recipe yet for our 3rd cookbook? We’re looking for recipes that you hadn’t sent in for cookbook 1 or 2 – I just know you’ve got an aunt’s or cousin’s star recipe that you haven’t shared with anyone yet! Lori Killackey is anxious to get our new cookbook underway! Help make Lori’s job easier. Email is cookylady1215@yahoo.com. Recipes can also be sent to the Hall of Fame and Museum at 110 W. Howard, Pontiac, IL 61724.
When the first buds are on the trees you’ll see us on the road! Lucca Grill, Bloomington, celebrating 75 years of great food on the Mother Road, driving to Funks Grove for the fresh maple sirup.
The economy is still tough, politics is even tougher, but simple pleasures along the road are still the best medicine in the world for whatever ails you.
See you on the road!
~Cathie