Just East of Edmond

By Maggie Murdock Nichols

Arcadia, Oklahoma is an iconic stop on Route 66. Traveling down Second Street from Edmond, beautiful Arcadia Lake punctuates the landscape and offers year-round recreation and adventure. Passing the resting longhorn cattle on a roadside ranch, you see a giant pop bottle on the horizon and know you’re nearing Arcadia. It’s a small town, only one square mile, but it’s jam-packed with attractions - and more on the way.

Pop’s and the Round Barn are two iconic Mother Road sites that can be seen from the road and enjoyed by families. Pop’s 66 offers travelers a place to eat and rest with a full-service restaurant, gas station, and convenience store that sits below a towering pop bottle that illuminates in vibrant colors at night. With 700 different flavors of pop, you will always have something new to explore at Pop’s. The Round Barn is a mustsee architectural gem. The hardwood floor loft served as a dance hall and community gathering place, and the downstairs level is a gift shop and museum dedicated to Arcadia and Route 66 history. As a tribute to its history, live music is held inside the loft and under the elm tree on weekends with crafts and games for kids available on Saturdays.

Farmer’s Market

The Arcadia Farmer’s Market, in its fifth season, takes place under a pavilion every Saturday from May through October. A five-piece string band strums as shoppers browse local produce and products. Kids run back and forth from swings to a petting zoo with goats, lambs, bunnies, and a mini horse. Manager Jesse Waltrip and the group of owners envisioned the market not only being a stop for those traveling Route 66 but a place for the community to gather and make memories.

Just east of the market, you’ll find the Arcadia Farmer’s Market General Store, which was opened due to the demand for local products extending beyond the weekly market. Here, products from the farmer’s market can be found on a daily basis along with other unique Oklahoma finds. The general store will soon expand. Jesse says, “We hope to make the market a one-stop-shop.”

Chicken Shack

Another Route 66 icon, Chicken Shack will soon cross the road from the north side of 66 to the south and relocate from Luther to Arcadia. The Chicken Shack will go from a meager 844 square feet to 14,000 square feet of space. The space in Arcadia offers a shack-style upgrade with a spacious field, a massive kitchen, a devoted takeout area, and plenty of parking. The design style will be a chic shack, but offer amenities like a climate-controlled dining room, reservations, and private party space. To top it all off, Chicken Shack also has a concert stage, a playground, and is dog friendly. Eddy Gochenour opened Chicken Shack in 2016 and looks forward to the move, “In my mind, Arcadia is the best square mile of Route 66.”

Route 66 will celebrate its 100th Birthday in 2026. Arcadia is primed and ready for a continued influx of visitors from near and far.