January 14, 2021 Vol. 21, No. 35
In This Issue FOUR SEASONS
Four Seasons, by Kevin Box, in real life is located in front of the Center for Transformative Learning on the UCO campus, but this week is hidden somewhere in our paper. Email contest@edmondpaper.com with the correct location to be entered in the weekly drawing. For more information, see page 4.
TV star coming to Lazy E See Page 9
FRIDAY, January 15 Mostly Sunny/Wind High 47° Low 28°
SATURDAY, January 16 Mostly Sunny High 48° Low 32°
SUNDAY, January 17 Partly Cloudy High 51° Low 35°
By Jared Peterson Hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans live within a few miles of Route 66, driving on it every day, just like all the other streets and highways in their communities, including here in Edmond. Part of the fabric of their lives, most people don’t give the highway a second thought. For them, it’s the quickest way to the grocery store, the shopping mall or to pick up their kids. But the fact is, Route 66 is a living time capsule with nearly 100 years of history sealed into every mile. That is why hundreds of thousands of people from across the country and around the world consider the highway a destination point, and a passage through the soul of America. So, AAA Oklahoma has joined with stakeholders in Tulsa, Oklahoma City and communities along Oklahoma’s 420-mile stretch of the highway to celebrate its approaching centennial year in 2026. The AAA Route 66 Road Fest is a nineday event cautiously planned for June 2021, starting at Tulsa’s
Jared Peterson River Spirit Expo at Expo Square on June 18th and ending at the Bennett Event Center on the OKC Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City, June 26th. The event will give visitors a chance to remember where we’ve been and explore what’s coming next. Imagine driving through a forest of derricks comprising the gigantic Oklahoma City Oil Field in 1928, stopping at a classic ’50’s diner, passing a ’60’s era drive-in theater or spending the night at an RV park and rest area with vintage campers all around. Will electric, automated vehicles rule the Mother Road someday? The
Road Fest will tell that story too. While history will abound in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, the highway’s centennial story will come to life in towns like Catoosa, Arcadia and Stroud, where Road Fest visitors can venture out to see the Blue Whale in Catoosa, the Round Barn in Arcadia and the Skyliner Motel in Stroud. AAA and the Mother Road have much in common. Both growing up in the golden age of the automobile, when cars and road trips were at the core of American culture. Oklahoma was not even 20 years old when Tulsa’s Cyrus Avery laid the groundwork for the historic highway’s cross-country development. That’s why there is no better place to kick off the national celebration than Oklahoma, which claims more miles of Route 66 than any other state, and did you know the route passes the state’s capitol building? No other state can say that. But this is not an Oklahoma celebration. Everyone can be involved in the party, and after the 2021 Road Fest is over, we will encourage continued on Page 3