How does a town like Pacific – which may have the best straight through section of Historic Route 66 of any city between Chicago, Illinois and Santa Monica, California – put together a 100th birthday bash that will get the tourists to stop?
The official 100th Route 66 birthday is 2026. That commemorates the year construction started on the road. We have five years to get it together.
The birthday party is coming. The federal government has appointed an official party planner, the Route 66 Centennial Committee, to organize events along the way.
But one Pacific citizen is tooting the town’s horn, so to speak. Downtown business owner Nancy Omer wants to wake us up to the fact that Pacific might be looking at (or overlooking) the best economic opportunity since the arrival of the railroad. For an entire year, all we have to do to attract business is capture the attention of the hordes of motorists that the feds say are coming to the celebration.
At least one alderman gets it. Andy Nemeth says Pacific missed the boat during the 2017 solar eclipse. Other cities made plans, whooped and hollered and pleaded with the public to come to their town to watch the eclipse. Which was a little nutty if you think about it because you could see it from anywhere. But it worked. The towns that planned eclipse watch parties and ‘everything you need to know about the eclipse’ events drew in big crowds to fill their restaurants and shop in their convenience stores. And Pacific, which did no planning, got passed by.
“I would hate to see us get passed by for something as big as the Route 66 centennial,” Nemeth told his fellow aldermen at Tuesday night’s board meeting. “We need to do something. I am for the mural.”
Make no mistake, Route 66 is still an iconic snippet of Americana. People still travel from Europe and other International ports of call to drive Route 66 from one end to the other, whizzing right through Pacific. And the federal highway commission is betting that number will grow exponentially in 2026.
Nancy says, let’s give the visitors a postcard. She wants to see a mural of iconic cars that have traveled Route 66 painted on the concrete wall on the north side of Osage Street (Route 66) between First and Second streets.
Some aldermen say, No! No! No! There is traffic on that street. People would want to take pictures of it and they’d have to cross the street to get a good shot. There are some vines above the wall and it would be our job to trim them back. MoDOT owns the wall and if they decided to tear it down, we’d lose our mural. Motorists might slow down to look at the mural and hold up traffic.
Well, not everyone would slow down. Alderman Gregg Rahn said there was no way he’d slow down. He said the speed limit there is 40 miles per hour and he is always going faster than that when he comes down the hill and sees he can go straight through and he would not slow down if people were looking at the mural.
Someone suggested a better place for a mural would be on the soon-to-be vacant lot, catty-corner across Osage and First street. The city could build a wall on the vacant lot and paint Nancy’s mural on it. The suggestion seems to be that the traffic rushing down Osage at 40 miles an hour would rush past the west side of the street and slam on their brakes to look at mural on the east side of the street.
There was also a suggestion that the City could build a wall at Jensen’s Point and paint a mural there. Exactly where this wall would be located was not spelled out but the idea of a wall, blocking the view of the incline so people could see pictures of painted cars, seems to go against the intent of why the City bought The Lookout park in the first place.
I’m writing about how far fetched the board discussion went Tuesday night to support Mayor Herb Adams notion that the public needs to get involved in planning a special Pacific Route 66 centennial celebration.
He said the birthday party should not be a government celebration, but a community celebration that is planned by members of the pubic, local civic groups and businesses. “Let the public tell us what can happen to get tourists to stop here,” he said.
He’s right.
Nancy Omer needs some help here, folks, if a mural or any other Route 66 birthday celebration is going to become a reality. What the aldermen are saying doesn’t make a lick of sense.
Other cities are already asking their students to hold Route 66 art contests and are asking their retailers to plan their 2026 advertising campaigns to include Route 66 birthday specials to lure shoppers.
One town planned a workshop of all the tourism stakeholders to ferret out ideas for events that would stop tourists there during the Route 66 celebration.
Towns, counties and even states are printing up new maps that pinpoint all the Route 66 attractions and stopping-off places along their section of the Mother Road.
Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Route 66 Commission are calling for the installation of exterior neon signs or LED lighting within the Route 66 Overlay District to identify a pedestrian realm and enhance the tourist experience.
And, odd as this sounds, while Pacific officials decry the onus of trimming weeds or worries about people wanting to photograph their town, Route 66 murals are going up in Pontiac, Illinois; Joplin, Missouri; Barstow and Davenport, Oklahoma; Kingman, Arizona, Tucumcari, New Mexico and Victorville, California. And you know what is depicted in most of those murals: vintage vehicles.
So if you think Nancy Omer is on to something that might benefit our town, talk to your alderman and/or volunteer to participate in a citizen workshop to plan the 2026 Route 66 celebration.
Someone said, the right Route 66 celebration could put Pacific on the map.
Pauline Masson
Nice article. Just curious, who are the tourism stakeholders.
Probably operators of hotels, restaurants, service stations, event planners – any organization that relies on visitors for source of revenue.
I. Will gladly volunteer to serve on the Comittee.
Let’s leave the Board out of this, they don’t think we can do anything and constantly ignore what the majority express as there wishes. I will support and work on any committee or project that does NOT include a member of the Board. Let them “govern” but we citizens will do what is needed for a ” better than others” celebration and design attractions that people will continue to stop and see long into the future, and at a price a lot less than $3.1 million dollars.
As a property owner who is above the tallest section of the wall…. it’s a no from me and my 3 neighbors. I don’t own the wall, MODOT does but please listen to 4 residents who own the property that the wall protects. 1st the wall is in poor condition and needs rehabbed or replaced. 2nd there is no parking on either side of Osage and I believe this is going to cause traffic issues and parking issues on or near our properties including concerns with St. Bridget’s parish office directly across the wall. Are you going to build a gate to my stairwell that only leads to my front yard? How soon before someone tresspass on the tallest section of the wall for a picture and gets hurt? Please find another way to celebrate.
Build a mural in front of “old Lazy Larry’s”. Already has sidewalks, lighting, places to park around it, could be seen from the highway and would hide the ugly empty lot.
Why not use liberty field as birthday bash party. See if we can’t get some of those cars and bikes to stop and rest and grab a bite and some games for kids. And why not try our hand at turning the strip into a 50s feel to it. Sounds like a good idea to me
Why do the suggestions center around N1st and Osage? That area would be the worst, there’s no place to park for people to get out and take pictures. Traffic would come to a halt when people hung out of their cars taking pics. There are so many more suitable places on Osage. It makes you wonder why that corner is such a big deal. You need something going in to town, not on top of another attraction, space things out.
Those are great points!
As a business owner along route 66 I think your voice is really important here too.
As a business owner of a couple of businesses Eclectic Trading Co. on historic Rt 66 in Pacific (150 year old building rehabbed) and the other being a printing company I totally feel like we the people, business owners and homeowners should create a tourist attraction for travelers on Rt. 66. I have a mural on the side of my building dedicate to Rt 66 and MO. I am currently working on lodging, an Airbnb to increase traffic and promote commercial opportunities. The schools, every day Pacific people should all be involved to put Pacific on the map, keep the money local. I would be very happy to be involved with the revitalization of Rt. 66 , after all that is why I originally purchased here. I have many suggestions that I currently receive from people stopping in and traveling 66. We need to concentrate on Rt 66 as a main focus so we can gain revenue for the community instead of other areas of the city. We can do more and develop a community, create a town more like historic St. Charles, Kimmswick, etc. Take advantage of our history, paint historic Rt 66 emblems ever so often on the road, so travelers can stay on route. Give maps, points of interest, coupons, Rt 66 merchandise, utilize our train system for midnight train rides like they do in Arizona. Try bringing back the neon, past and present, give travelers a reason to get their kicks on Rt 66 promoting travel and preservation to the resurgence. People need a reason to stop and peak their interest.
As a member of the Park Board, building a wall at Jensen’s wouldn’t get my vote. I’d rather see colorful LED uplighting at the base of both Jensen’s and Blackburn highlighting the bluffs. A mural at First and Osage isn’t a bad idea. As to the thought of slowing down to look at something, I wonder if anyone realizes there is a plaque on the sandstone bluff below Blackburn already that gets missed, a lot, because people speed on Osage?
We have to ask ourselves what kind of tourists are interested in Route 66 history. I’m willing to bet it’s people who like cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc….
In addition to general promotion of our town and rt66, maybe we have 2 car shows that year, and a bike show or two??
Maybe a music festival or BBQ festival (or both?). We have a large empty field next to KFC that is literally on Route 66,, why not use those grounds for a variety of events that year all Route 66 themed?
I’m not sure a mural would bring in tourists.
I’ve been on a lot of road trips and I’ve never sought out a mural as a destination nor have I pulled over to look at one
First of all Ekelkamp would not let any one trespass on his tax haven by KFC, the BBQ and music festival was done in City park years back and was well attended ,we need to have a lrge regular festival at least yearly to build up interest in Pacific as a destination, but the City, the Chamber and the Partnership seem to fight each other on such projects,we have lots of places to build permanent displays. Help US Silica dress up their property with murals, mansard roofs with murals on building on S 1st south of the tracks, there are lots of vertical spaces in down town, let the city turn lose of some tourism cash for the paint and equipment, there are lots of artest that would do it for the notoriety , times a wasting, let’s get going
How about utilizing the lights on each side of the street for a neon drive experience! How interesting would it be if you could expand that down the stretch of our town so it’s a neon path with stopping points that are enriched with interesting tidbits of our towns history, have food trucks or stopping places or coupons available for local business’s. People travel the Route 66 trail because of history. They are interested in the rich history along the way! Give it to them but make it
interesting and unique! A long path of neon lights on either side would be an unforgettable adventure! You could have them on certain times of year or every weekend! I haven’t heard of anyone doing something like that!
Could start at Jensens’s Point and have neon lights / signs and information at points clear down to the high school! You could offer a brochure in a welcome kit for all new residents that gives juicy highlights along with advertisements/ mini coupons for specific places in town like restaurants, stores, etc. have them placed several places along the way for people to pick up. That area is complete walkable as well.
Could park near dollar general or across the street and walk it or bike it at night as well. It could be EPIC and not overly expensive!!!!
sounds like a great idea; not to be a nay say’r, but don.t know if the great and all knowing MODOT would allow anything so distracting on THEIR right of way, also , check the city’s sign ordnance,who would own and maintain them, i am sure some one out there can get through the legal clutter so we can get it done
It would be nice Henry! They either want to put our town in the map and be progressive as they say they do or they will drop the ball. I hope they utilize it. Our town has some unique and interesting history with the battle, the trains, etc, etc….
I think a neon light up path would be amazing, it would grab attention and go with their theme of celebration and then could be used for years to come!!