(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of Route 66, the famous road that ran from Chicago to Santa Monica, California, and, of course, straight through central Illinois.

Before the interstate system, the Mother Road was part of America's first real highway system.

This year, McLean County is rolling out celebrations to honor the history, culture, and community of Route 66.

Micaela Harris, Director of Communications for the McLean County Museum of History, and Melissa Chrisman, the President and CEO of Visit BN, which is the Bloomington-Normal Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, they join us now to talk about what's going to be an exciting summer and fall.

Thanks for coming, we appreciate it.

- Thanks for having us.

- Thanks for having us.

- So before we get into all the events that are happening, Micaela, let's talk a little bit about Route 66 from a historical standpoint.

Why is it so historical, and why do people have such fond memories of a road that maybe hasn't been used in several decades?

- I think a large part of Route 66's success can be traced back to its popularity in media, books, TV, music, and then the way that the average American family was able to hop on the route and hit the ocean if they wanted to.

So Route 66 was formally established in 1926 by federal legislation.

Prior to 1925, as roads were popping up throughout the country, there was no unified system for how the roads worked from state to state.

So folks got together, and there was a national commission that made the recommendation to implement the National Highway System that we know and love today, with our even numbers running east to west, so that travelers from all over could easily traverse the whole continent.

- And for the younger people watching out there, you know, before Route 66, which was by no means as fancy as our interstate system is now, people were driving, you know, dirt roads, mud roads, everything like that.

So it was a pretty big deal back then.

- Oh, it was a huge deal.

I mean, in 1900 there were about 8,000 registered automobiles in the United States.

Most people traveled by train, waterways, horse and buggy, or just on their feet.

By 1920, there was about eight million cars on the road.

So establishing this National Highway System really enabled people to, if they could afford a car and if they could afford gas, they could hop on and get place to place much quicker.

And as our country evolved, as technology involved, so did our roads.

So the interstate system just put that into hyperspeed.

- And, Melissa, you're a central Illinois native, and I'm sure... You've been on the job, what now?

A little over a year?

- A little over a year.

- So you had to, if you weren't already familiar with Route 66, you had to become an expert pretty darn quick, I guess.

- That's right, that's exactly right, Mark.

And, you know, I think for those of us that are from Bloomington-Normal and from McLean County, growing up with Route 66 in your backyard, you sit back and you think it's not a big deal.

And when you step back and you hear stories like what Micaela just said in the history of the road, you can really come to terms with what a big deal and what a significant impact Route 66 had on our entire country.

And coming to an organization like Visit BN and looking at it from the tourist perspective, you really see, A, again, the historical impact it had, and then, B, how people have really romanticized the road over the years, especially internationally.

To Europeans, Route 66 is Americana culture.

It signifies the great American road trip.

It signifies opportunity.

So it really is a special road, and that's what makes this year so exciting.

- Yeah, in researching this, it was amazing, you know, Googling Route 66 and road trip and all that, how many different European websites popped up.

I mean, people wanna take that drive from Chicago to California, 2000 miles plus.

Of course, it's a lot easier now than it was way back then, and there was no Wally's in Pontiac.

So I don't know where people got their beef jerky.

But coming up this summer, I know there's a lot of events going on.

How is Visit BN capitalizing on this anniversary to maybe promote Bloomington-Normal and McLean County as a whole?

- Sure.

Well, I mean, we couldn't do it alone, right?

Really, Visit BN is the final leg in the work of all of our McLean County municipalities who have spent, I mean, I wanna say their efforts really started 10 years ago when we opened the Cruisin' with Lincoln on Route 66 Visitors Center in the main floor of the McLean County Museum of History where Micaela works now.

And, you know, our Route 66 communities, from Chenoa in the north all the way down to McLean in the south, have joined together to really put their best foot forward.

And we have gathered those communities together, along with interested stakeholders, historians.

And Visit BN has brought everybody together, and we are the ones who are just the catalyst to tell that story.

So we are coordinating a countywide scavenger hunt.

We are coordinating chalkboard walls.

We are coordinating countywide parties.

So there's all sorts of things in the works.

But really it started at the municipality level, and Visit BN is the one telling the story.

- Yeah, we've had so many press releases sent to us and different news stories that, you know, the governor's on board.

And considering that Route 66 runs roughly from Chicago to St.

Louis going down 55, there's a lot of counties in that area and a lot of people and population that wanna take advantage of this anniversary.

Now, Micaela, Melissa mentioned the exhibit that is in the McLean County Museum of History.

Tell us a little bit about that and what that entails.

- Yeah, so in 2015, we opened the Cruisin' with Lincoln on 66 Visitors Center and Gift Shop.

It is located on the ground level of the museum.

And I did not believe this when I started working there, but it really sees international travelers every single day.

So we have illuminated panels that tell people about the history of Route 66, Abraham Lincoln's connection to Route 66.

And then we also, of course, have merchandise and information for Route 66 travelers and anyone just passing through the area.

So it's been a really kind of special space that really was born out of collaboration through municipalities, through Visit BN, and of course through the museum that has been a great welcoming center for our community.

- Yeah, I'm curious.

I don't know if you get to talk to any of these travelers that come through the museum.

Okay, well, maybe you can answer this.

Again, Route 66 starts Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, goes to St.

Louis, roughly following I-55.

Do people just go 55 all the way down, or do they stop down in different towns, different roadside attractions?

What do you hear that they do?

- Every traveler's different.

It kind of, I think, depends on the time that they have.

A lot of folks that we see in the museum have Route 66 passports, and they stop at each location to get their passports stamped.

And some people breeze through the small towns.

Others take their time because there's a lot to see.

I don't know if you have any other insights.

- And what we see from a tourist perspective is it's those small towns that have the most appeal.

And so, I mean, anecdotally what we hear from the people that we talk to is that they really take their time.

From the visitors that we talk to, it's the stories and it's the people that they talk to along the route, like stopping in the Cruisin' with Lincoln on 66 Visitors Center, that really make the trip worthwhile.

So they really prefer to, when they can, get off Interstate 55 and stop in Chenoa and have a meal at the Chenoa Family Restaurant or stop off in Lexington and drive on Memory Lane, or go to Normal and go to Ryburn Place at Sprague's Super Service and talk to Terri Ryburn.

It's those connections that we've found people are telling us make this Route 66 journey really just an incredible experience.

- How have you found that businesses around the Twin Cities in McLean County have responded to this anniversary?

Because it seems like, over the last five or six years, more and more things are popping up.

Like the Giants Museum in Atlanta, which is really cool, that I'm sure a lot of people are gonna get off the highway to look at things like that.

- Sure.

Oh gosh, I mean, the business community has really, really been on board.

I have been incredibly impressed.

Not only have we not gotten any nos when we have approached anybody to be a part of anything that we're working on, everybody has had an open door to any of our wild and crazy ideas that our committee has come up with.

And, not only that, we've had a lot of organizations approach us and say, "How can we be involved?"

So it really has been a fun thing to be a part of, and everybody has seen what a great opportunity this is, once-in-a-100-year opportunity, right?

And they've really come together and said, "What can we do to be involved "to, I mean, obviously help our business, "but also to honor the history "of Route 66 in McLean County?"

- Sure.

What are some of the things that Visit BN and some of the other organizations around McLean County, what have they been doing to get ready for this big anniversary?

- Oh gosh.

I don't know if you wanna take this.

- I know we have a lot of photo opportunities now along Route 66, if you wanna talk about those.

- Sure, I mean, I can look at, you know, a great example are the murals that have been put in across McLean County over the last three years.

Probably the most significant ones are in downtown Bloomington, starting with the mural on Jefferson outside of Red Raccoon games and also the mural in the Cruisin' with Lincoln on Route 66 Visitors Center.

We've also put murals in McLean, if you've seen it, the big pinball mural on the side of the grain bin.

To continue to ready our efforts, we are getting ready to put in three new murals, another one in McLean on the historic water tower, one in Chenoa, and also one at Ryburn Place at Sprague's Super Service in Normal.

I mean, those are just a few examples.

I could go on and on and on.

Rader Family Farms is another great example.

They're really leaning into the centennial with a full slate of centennial-themed activities this fall.

White Oak Brewery is our official beer of the centennial, for example, with their Hops on 66 beer.

Heartland Theatre is doing a 10-minute Chicago to Santa Monica play.

Illinois Symphony Orchestra.

Like I said, I could go on and on and on, but Illinois Symphony Orchestra is gonna be premiering "Reverie of the Mother Road."

So, again, a full slate of activities that people have just kind of come up with on their own to celebrate the milestone.

- We mentioned the international interest in this too.

Have you gotten a lot of phone calls and inquiries from people around the country or around the world wanting to know, "Hey, what can we do when we come to Illinois for this?"?

- We have.

And I know you have gotten them too.

You know, Visit BN, we, again, are kind of the welcome wagon arm for McLean County.

And probably the best example I can give is, in between now and the middle of May, we are hosting travel agents from across the country, and every single group is interested in Route 66.

So, coming up at the end of this month, we're hosting travel agents from Ireland in the United Kingdom, and they want to come see our Route 66 attractions.

So we're gonna take them to lunch, we're gonna show them all around the community, wherever we can have them.

And this is in coordination with Enjoy Illinois and Brand USA.

And we have several more of those activities planned in the next month, where we have international visitors who are coming to us and saying, "Show us around "because our customers internationally "are asking us to plan their trips."

- I think one of the advantages that Illinois has, and I'm sure you already know this, is that on, you know, Route 66, there's a lot of stuff in Illinois.

Now, the further west you get, you know, you're out in New Mexico and Arizona, you might not see anything cool for a hundred miles.

But here it seems like we've got something in every town going down 55.

So when you do talk to these travel agents and give them an idea of what they can offer their customers, what other kind of things are you saying, "Hey, while you're here, "you should check this out or check that out"?

- Well, I mean, I think we have the best food scene that you can find, of course.

So on top of stopping at our attractions, we wanna encourage them to stay a while and check out our local retail, have a bite at one of our great restaurants, and explore the history museum, past, the visitors center, and really do everything that McLean County has to offer.

So, you know, Route 66 is enough to be your entire trip, but, while you're here, you can really have an excellent full vacation.

- And I'm sure when you get those people coming to the museum that are looking for different things to do, you can also say, "Oh, by the way, you know, "this is the Land of Lincoln.

"We have a few Lincoln activities, one or two."

What kind of things would you encourage people to check out?

- I would encourage people to check out our downtown Bloomington art scene and kind of the whole art scene throughout McLean County.

I think one of the best way to get to know a people is through their art.

And we are very, very fortunate, downtown Bloomington boasts 12 artist studios and galleries within six walking blocks.

And so I think that's something.

All the time I hear travelers say: "Oh, I wish we had more time down here."

Because there's truly something around every corner.

- So, Melissa, I think the actual anniversary is in the fall, isn't it?

But, obviously, you know, before that we're starting the party.

Talk about the countywide scavenger hunt that you mentioned before.

What's that going to entail?

- Sure.

So really we're using the first weekend in May, which is traditionally what we call the Red Carpet Corridor Weekend, as our kickoff, as what would be our prime travel season.

So that is gonna be when the majority of our activities kind of kick off.

We have around 25 locations across McLean County that have been identified as scavenger hunt locations.

These can be historical locations.

We have some restaurants such as Kicks Bar & Grill in Towanda, Dixie Truck Stop in McLean, a couple of city halls even.

But just places for people to explore and to go learn more about our communities.

But we're partnering with the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway mobile app to complete the scavenger hunt.

So visitors and residents alike, we would encourage our residents to participate in this too because what a great way to learn about McLean County.

If you're, like we talked about earlier, somebody who sat back and thought, "Oh, Route 66, no big deal," you're gonna learn about it today, or this is the year to do it.

But if you download that app, you will be given a tour, a list of all of the scavenger hunt locations.

You can go find that location, scan a QR code, check it off your list, learn a little bit about the location, maybe have a conversation with one of the mayors in the city hall, have a bite to eat, check it off your list, and receive some special recognition from Visit BN.

So it should be a really, really fun activity for people to play this summer.

- And one really clever event I think that's going on is the Progressive Party Weekend.

Can you tell us about that and how the different towns along the route are celebrating?

- Sure.

Well, we like to say we're gonna cruise through the century that weekend.

But each community along Route 66 is going to be celebrating a different century, starting with the 1920s in Chenoa and ending with the 1980s in McLean.

And of course we picked that way because the average traveler does go Chicago to Santa Monica.

So we figured we would go north to south.

But we think you can really have a full weekend with a packed itinerary.

So you can check out a 1920s barbershop quartet and maybe a flapper dance in Chenoa, as they, again, celebrate the 1920s.

And then you can progress onto Lexington where they're going to be having a celebration at the Lexington Castle, and they're gonna have a 1930s lawn party with lawn games, an ice cream social, and a speakeasy.

Then you can move on in your day on Saturday, June 6th, to Towanda.

They're gonna be doing a 1940s wartime home front party and partnering with their American Legion.

They're gonna be doing walking tours of their parkway and arboretum, all sorts of activities across the whole of Towanda.

Culminating in downtown Bloomington with a 1960s party on the square with a Motown band and a spectacular On the Square that you will not wanna miss at the McLean County Museum of History.

Party all day on Saturday, pick up Sunday morning in uptown Normal, well, excuse me, 1 Normal Plaza for a 1950s retro roadside picnic.

Proceed onto Funks Grove where they're gonna be having a hippies tie-dye party for the '70's.

And then end your night in McLean as they celebrate the 1980s.

So, again, you have a full weekend of leaning into every decade along Route 66, and each community has something really special to celebrate.

- Good time in McLean to go to the '80's arcade.

Play some games.

- It couldn't have worked out any better.

- Yeah, that was perfect.

Micaela, as far as the History Museum, what kind of things are gonna be going on there besides the exhibit that you already have?

- Yeah, so I will say: prior to the decades party happening on June 6th, on May 1st, or sorry, 2nd, during Red Carpet Corridor, we're gonna be releasing an exclusive game.

So we actually have a volunteer at the museum who is an award-winning game designer.

That is his full-time job.

And we partnered with him to create a game called "Cruisin' with Lincoln on 66."

And it's a trivia-based game that people ages seven and up can play.

So we'll be debuting that, and we're hoping that people enjoy that all throughout the summer.

And then on the sixth, the museum will be open, and we're gonna welcome folks in ahead of that big party.

And we're really looking forward, we've been working with Visit BN on creating a light show through grants and the support of Visit BN that I think will be really, really spectacular and kind of take people through time and celebrate that history in a new way that we've never done before.

- Very cool.

Tell us about the chalkboard walls.

Because those sound interesting too.

- Yeah, I'm so excited about these chalkboard walls.

So I really have been to a couple of museums and have seen these big chalkboard walls where people are able to sign their name, show where they're from, draw art, just to commemorate their trip to that location.

And have just thought: "What a great way "to just show all the people "that have come through a space."

And so we talked about it with our community committee and decided that it was something that we could implement in McLean County.

So we are going to be putting chalkboard walls in all of our Route 66 communities.

Some are building their own, some are gonna have a similar design, but the idea is to give, again, visitors a chance to leave their mark, temporarily, on that community as they stop through.

We are asking each one of those communities to take weekly pictures of the signatures and the artwork on those chalkboard walls before they erase them.

And that way we can have a memorial book digitally at the end of this year to really have a piece that we can go back and say: "Look at what we did."

And so in Chenoa, like I kind of love that they're doing this, but they have a mobile chalkboard wall that they are gonna take out to various events.

They're really excited.

They just put in a new Dairy Queen, and so they're actually gonna take it out early as a part of their Dairy Queen grand opening.

They have ZIP Code Day this year.

Their ZIP code is 61726.

So on June 17th of 2026, they're all having another celebration as part of their Route 66 centennial.

They'll be able to take it out to that as well.

So these will be able to move around, be in key locations, and, again, just another way for people to memorialize their trip through our communities.

- As someone with, you know, a convention and visitors bureau, someone with tourism, a business owner, this has to be the gift that keeps on giving.

I mean, really, it's gonna be a lot of fun, but it's gonna be a great opportunity just to get business names out there, McLean County out there, Bloomington-Normal.

And it looks like you guys are really taking advantage of the opportunity.

- Yeah, I mean, we're talking about chalkboard walls and all these activities, and those are all really important things.

But ultimately we are putting McLean County on the map, we are putting our attractions on the map, and we are putting our local businesses on the map.

And the end goal is that the people that stop by are going in and supporting those businesses while they're here, right?

So we are hoping that this is a benefit for our entire community and that we all see an increase in people coming to all of our locations.

- Yeah, it'd be great if you could get those folks to be repeat customers and, of course with social media, they can tell everyone in the world what they've been doing.

- We've gotta show 'em a great time, Mark.

- That's right, roll out the red carpet.

Any other events that the museum's having or any information that people might wanna know about Route 66 and the big anniversary?

- I just hope people stop by.

I think we've got our big events this summer, and then the rest of the time will truly be spent just engaging with folks one-on-one.

We sit right on historic Route 66 and have, well, the building has since 1903.

So we're there, we're excited, and we're looking forward to connecting with people as they come through the area.

- With all these events going on, do you need any help from the community as far as volunteers or anything like that?

- Oh my gosh, sure.

We would take all the help that we could get.

I would say give the Visit BN office a call.

We're at 309-665-0033.

Or they can visit our website and contact us that way.

We're at visitbn.org.

I think there's gonna be plenty of opportunities as we get closer to the summer for people to continue to get involved.

So give us a call.

- And there are so many different organizations involved besides Visit BN.

Is that the best place to go to to find out about what events are going on?

- Yeah, I think so.

We're kind of the corraler for all of the efforts, so we can certainly manage that.

- I know this has gotta be taking up a huge amount of your time, but can you tell us anything else new and exciting going on with Visit BN and events happening in McLean County?

- Oh gosh, yeah.

I mean, we are still doing all of our regular events.

We just wrapped up with our spring slate of IHSA events, and then of course we are looking forward to our summer events.

June brings us Special Olympics, Tailgate N' Tallboys, so it's still business as usual for Visit BN even though we have this big milestone year.

So we're still doing all of our normal stuff, but this is just kind of the big talk right now.

- All right, if someone comes to the museum from out of town, out of the country, wherever, outer space, what do you recommend that they do?

If they say, "Look, I've got two days to do anything I want, "to go anywhere I want," what's your advice?

What are you telling them to do?

- Anywhere on Route 66?

- [Mark] Sure, whatever.

- And anywhere.

Well, I would of course encourage them to head upstairs and explore the museum.

We really pride ourselves on exploring McLean County history through a global lens.

So McLean County doesn't just exist in this bubble, right?

Things that happened across the globe happened here.

And vice versa.

We actually just had an Italian visitor yesterday that I spoke to for a while, and we were able to talk about how there's a stone from ancient Rome that the people of Rome sent that's embedded into Lincoln's tomb.

And she was really excited to go check that out as she continued on her travels.

We also found little connections with Funks' seed corn and how that was planted in Italy and originated from here.

So you can always discover these little connections that I think remind us how big and small the world is and how unique it is to be a human.

But if somebody has, let's say, two days and they're in central Illinois looking to explore, I would encourage them to get out there, to talk to some people, and to explore our communities through our art, through our organizations, and of course through our food.

- Certainly a lot to do.

All right, Micaela Harris with the McLean County Museum of History and Melissa Chrisman with Visit BN.

Hope you have a busy and productive summer, and let's get the people and money rolling into McLean County.

- That's right.

Hopefully we see you out there.

- I will be there whether you like it or not.

Thanks a lot.

And thank you for joining us.

You could check out this interview again at wtvp.org.

Have a good night.

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