Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Route 66 and its historic neon signs will be the focus of the Tucumcari Historical Museum’s latest special day Saturday to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
“Neon and Route 66 Businesses Past and Present” will include guided bus tours and presentations by two Route 66 experts, along with activities for both adults and children. The museum at 416 S. Adams St. will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Baldwin Burr, photo archivist for the New Mexico Historical Society, will give his presentation about Route 66 in New Mexico at 10 a.m.
Johnnie Meier, former president of the New Mexico Route 66 Association, will give his presentation about 1:30 p.m. at the Odeon Theatre for a screening of the 25-minute documentary “Route 66: The Neon Road.”
Meier oversaw a program in 2003 that restored 10 vintage neon signs on Route 66 in New Mexico, including three in Tucumcari. Two of the Tucumcari signs, TeePee Curios and La Cita restaurant, still exist. The third, the Paradise Motel sign, was purchased by a collector last year and hauled away after two fires damaged the long-closed property. The program was documented in a PBS film, “Route 66: The Neon Road.”
Bus tours are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Those participating will be shown TeePee Curios, Blue Swallow Motel, Motel Safari, Watson’s BBQ, Palomino Motel, Odeon Theatre and others on or near Tucumcari’s Route 66 corridor.
The museum will serve pancakes and sausage for breakfast at 9 a.m. and hot dogs and watermelon for lunch at noon.
The museum also displays dozens of photographs of Route 66 businesses in Tucumcari, many of them long gone. Several other Route 66 photos recently were found in the museum’s archives and will be displayed, as well.
It also will host a scavenger hunt on the museum grounds all day for adults and children. The museum also will host several children’s activities.
The museum’s final special event to mark its 50th anniversary this year will be “Patriotic Day” on Aug. 10. It will honor veterans and military history from the time of New Mexico statehood, including Fort Bascom, World War II gliders, Conchas Dam and the Bataan Death March that affected hundreds of New Mexico soldiers.