Another season means another bulletin. Welcome to the autumn newsletter of the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. I’m Roger Naylor, Arizona author and travel writer, and it’s my privilege to pen these quarterly newsletters that we hope will inform and entertain. Let’s get right to it, shall we?
Angel hangs up his shears
This summer marked the end of an era when Angel Delgadillo, the Seligman barber who spearheaded the Route 66 preservation movement, officially retired at the age of 95. No more haircuts or straight razor shaves for his legions of adoring fans.
In 1987, Angel founded the Historic Route 66 Association, the very first organization of its kind. Through tireless efforts, the Association successfully lobbied the state of Arizona to designate a segment of Mother Road as Historic Route 66. That provided a blueprint for every other state to follow and that’s how Route 66 exists today. For his work in saving the Mother Road, the most famous small town barber in the world became known as the “Guardian Angel of Route 66.”
Angel first retired as a barber in 1997. But it didn’t take. Because by then people were flocking to Seligman like pilgrims. They came to shake Angel’s hand, to hug him, and thank him for what he helped save. Naturally, plenty of folks requested haircuts. And the always gracious, big-hearted Angel happily obliged. What a memory he gave those thousands of travelers. Getting a trim or a shave from the Guardian Angel of Route 66 himself! But now it’s time to let the man relax. Let him be the full-time ambassador, the heart and soul, and mile-wide smile of the Mother Road without the clipping and snipping. For all that he’s done, he’s earned a rest.
He finally officially called it quits on July 7. His career spanned 75 years to the day. On July 7, 1947, Angel entered the American Pacific Barber College in Pasadena, which just happened to be located on Route 66. The day after his retirement, the barbershop, which is located inside Angel and Vilma Delgadillo’s Original Route 66 Gift Shop, was converted into a museum. The week after he retired, he was inducted into the Arizona Tourism Hall of Fame. You can read my story about this remarkable man, right here. https://www.azcentral.com/story/travel/arizona/road-trips/2022/07/22/historic-route-66-angel-delgadillo/10103132002/
Kicking it in Kingman
October 14 and 15 marks the 2nd Annual Kingman 66 Fest. This year’s bash in Lewis Kingman Park looks to expand on the success from the first event, with plenty of new twists. Of course, a car show and motorcycle show are on the agenda. Plus, there will be a Queen of the Mother Road Pin Up Contest, a vintage trailer Tow ‘N Show Camp-out, a road sign graffiti contest, vendors, food trucks, and live music. Performers feature an all-star lineup including Cash’d Out Premier Johnny Cash Show, Jonathon Lee Band, Nicki Park Band, and Robert Kramer.
A zip-line and monster slide are just a couple of the fun activities for the kids, while some adults might enjoy the shady beer garden where they’ll be serving regional and Route 66 brews. There will also be Route 66 presentations and demonstrations from some local experts. Rumor has it that I’m going to be one of the presenters. Heaven help us all.
Festivities begin at 3:00 p.m. on Friday and 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. The festival is free. Wristbands for rides and activities go for a meager $10 each day. For more info or to register for any of the events, call the Kingman Visitor Center at 866-427-7866, or visit www.66fest.com.
Scare yourself silly
My favorite part of Halloween is that it gives me permission to buy bags of small candy bars all month. We’re lucky if a dozen trick-or-treaters show up at our house but I still stockpile enough Kit-Kats, Almond Joys, Twixs, and Tootsie Rolls to help my sweet tooth survive an apocalyptic event. I will be working through my Halloween stash when Easter candy arrives on the shelves next spring.
But the other fun parts of Halloween are good old-fashioned frights. You can have that on the Mother Road when you sign up for a haunted walking tour with Freaky Foot Tours in Flagstaff. They’ve got several to choose from, including a Haunted History Walking Tour of Downtown, and a Spirits with the Spirits Haunted Pub Crawl. They offer the ghostly outings throughout the year but there’s just something about the weeks before Halloween that make you want to go looking for ghosts. So stuff some candy in your pockets and prowl the dark streets in search of history and haunts. 928-224-0518, www.freakyfoottours.com.
An updated Bunion Derby
One of the most famous songs invoking Route 66 starts with the line, “Well, I’m running down the road…” We all know, of course that when the singer stops running, he ends up standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. Participants in the Route 66 UltraRun may not have a lot of time for idly standing around on corners, not with 140 miles to cover! You read that right, 140 miles. These incredible athletes will run Historic Route 66 from Seligman to Topock66.
Ultrarunning legend Marshall Ulrich and his wife Heather have organized the Route 66 UltraRun, which will take place November 11-13. The inaugural event will host a maximum of 100 runners, each supported by a dedicated crew. Proceeds will benefit the Alzheimer’s Association and the Historic Route 66 Association.
And if the date sounds familiar, it should. Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926. So the UltraRun will kick off exactly 96 years to the day our beloved Route 66 was established. The race celebrates the joy of the journey so many have experienced on the Mother Road. And it pays homage to the rich history of Route 66, quite notably the Trans-American Footrace, nicknamed the Bunion Derby. In 1928, the grueling cross-country Bunion Derby traveled the length of Route 66 and beyond from Los Angeles to New York.
The Route 66 UltraRun will finish up with a rocking awards ceremony, befitting an awesome event and an amazing road. You can learn more about the race and the jaw-dropping accomplishments of Marshall Ulrich, adventure racer, ultrarunner, and mountaineer, Marshall Ulrich, at https://route66ultrarun.com/
Everyone loves a parade
And everyone especially loves Winslow’s Christmas Parade, which also has the distinction to be the longest-running annual Christmas parade in Northern Arizona. And this year on November 19, it turns 75 years old!
This is the kind of event that draws folks from all over the state, a nice tradition to kick off the holiday season. The town makes a whole day of it with vendors and food, arts and crafts. Even Santa Claus can’t pass up a chance to hang out on the Mother Road for a shindig like this. He’ll be kicking back with his jolly bad self at the Winslow Visitor Center in the morning, from 8-11 a.m. It’s the prefect time to check in with the big man to see whether you are on the Nice list or if you’re trending Naughty.
Drop in on Santa
You would think someone as busy as Santa wouldn’t appreciate visitors barging into his house during the busy season but he seems jolly as ever when welcoming guests to the North Pole Experience, which is surprisingly close to Flagstaff. It opens on November 12 and lasts through the Christmas season.
The North Pole Experience starts with trolley ride at Little America Hotel, whisking you through a magic portal to the North Pole. From there take a tour of Santa’s workshop, help elves build some toys, visit the mailroom, and the top secret Sleigh Hangar. Enjoy a snack at Mrs. Claus’ bakery—you just know that woman has a way with cookies.
The entire adventure lasts about 95 minutes, including trolley rides. Tours are offered during the day and in the evenings. They’re equally wonderful but nighttime visitors will also enjoy a twinkling wonderland. Little America Hotel strings more than two million colored lights through the forest on their expansive grounds and that adds an extra dash of holiday magic to the season. 480-779-9679, www.northpoleexperience.com.
Route 66’s very own national park turns 60
It doesn’t matter whether you come for the scenery, the expansive sky, the haunting quiet, the surprising colors of the fossil fields, or the mind-boggling span of history, you’ll find it all at Petrified Forest, which celebrates a milestone later this year. It became a national park 60 years ago, on December 9, 1962.
Perhaps even more impressive, President Theodore Roosevelt designated Petrified Forest as a national monument way back on December 8, 1906. It was one of the first four national monuments in America!
Believed to shelter the largest concentration of petrified wood on the planet, Petrified Forest delivers scenic and scientific wonders in equal measures. The fossils of the plants and animals unearthed tell the story of a time when the world was young. Ancient trees—trees that once offered shade to dinosaurs—lie tumbled amid the hills and desert grasslands of the park.
Petrified Forest also protects a layer of more recent history. It is the only national park that includes and protects a section of old Route 66. They’ve got a nice memorial established, just a few hundred yards north of the interstate that replaced the historic highway. There’s some signage and a 1932 Studebaker marking the spot where the Mother Road once carried travelers across such a haunting expanse. A string of weathered telephone poles traces the old alignment, a silent reminder of what once existed.
The brilliantly hued badlands of the Painted Desert in the northern part of the park were once visible to travelers on Route 66, whether they stopped or not. I-40 does not offer that kind of view so millions of people roar past with no idea of the otherworldly beauty that is all around them. That’s one of the many differences between interstate and two-lane travel. 928-524-6228, www.nps.gov/pefo.
Hope to see you soon
Well, that’s it for now. With weather turning cooler and leaves changing, it’s the perfect time to explore more and more of Arizona’s remarkable portion of the Mother Road. Look for the next newsletter to arrive in your inbox just as you’re recovering from holiday stress in January.
If you have items of interest you’d like to share in an upcoming newsletter, we’d love to hear from you. You can email them to me, Roger Naylor, at [email protected], or to Nikki Seegers, Director of Operations at Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona at [email protected].
Thanks for being part of the Route 66 family. Happy motoring!