Barstow to Celebrate 100 Years of Route 66 on November 14 With Heritage Park Ribbon Cutting and Centennial Time Capsule Reveal
The City of Barstow, in San Bernardino County, California, announced on November 4 that it will mark the centennial of U.S. Route 66 with a free community celebration and the ribbon cutting of the new Main Street Heritage Park from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, November 14. The event follows the highway's official 100th anniversary on November 11.
The celebration, at First Avenue and Main Street, will feature a ribbon cutting, classic cars, live music, food trucks, retail vendors and family activities. The city will also reveal its official Route 66 Centennial Time Capsule and plaque, filled with symbolic items from agencies across the Barstow community and sealed for 50 years.
"Having grown up in Barstow, I've always believed we have so much here worth seeing," said Mayor Tim Silva. "People come from around the world to travel Route 66, and I want them to spend some time right here on our Main Street. With the opening of Heritage Park, we're giving visitors another reason to stop and our residents another place to enjoy and take pride in."
Formerly the Route 66 Pocket Park, Heritage Park now features accessible pathways, shade canopies, seating, landscaping and a new monument sign, and residents helped choose its name. The project is part of the city's first phase of Main Street improvements. "For generations, Barstow was one of the places travelers counted on as they crossed the Desert," said Brendan O'Brien, co-owner of the Route 66 Mother Road Museum. "One hundred years later, people still come from around the world to experience Route 66. Here in Barstow, they can walk the same Main Street and discover the stories that made the Mother Road famous."
Long before Route 66 carried travelers west, Barstow was a railroad crossroads in the Mojave Desert. In 1925, Main Street moved to the route that would become U.S. Highway 66, welcoming Dust Bowl families heading to California and generations of road-trippers. Nearby, the 1911 Casa del Desierto Harvey House is home to the Route 66 Mother Road Museum. Barstow covers about 41 square miles, is home to about 25,000 residents, and sits where Interstates 15 and 40 and State Route 58 converge.
(Source: City of Barstow)
Source: City of Barstow
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Barstow 的 Casa del Desierto Harvey House，建于1911年，现为66号公路母亲之路博物馆所在地。CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Casa del Desierto Harvey House in Barstow, built in 1911 and now home to the Route 66 Mother Road Museum. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
