Lodgers board looks over banner designs

The Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Advisory Board on Wednesday discussed with the city's tourism marketer possible designs for banners that would be placed on Main Street, First Street and the Route 66 corridor.

John Echols, account executive of Gray Digital Media in Amarillo, brought three mockups of potential banners that would be hung from light poles along those streets. Each of the banners mention Route 66's upcoming centennial in 2026.

One banner, stating "Celebrating 100 Years" of Route 66, was deemed "too busy" by Tonya Ridgon and other board members.

Another proposed banner read "Route 66 Centennial Celebration" with a Route 66 highway sign was well-liked, though board member Al Patel suggested changing the wording to "Celebrating 100 Years."

A third proposed banner read "100 Years of Family Road Trips" with an image of a family in front of the Route 66 Monument. That design received the most favor from board members.

Patel recommended two different banners to give tourists "some variety" as they travel through town.

Assistant city manager Renee Hayoz said she hadn't yet obtained cost estimates on such banners, including their hardware. Patel said he estimated the cost at between $80,000 and $100,000 for about 300 banners.

Rigdon, noting the 250th anniversary of the United States also is in 2026, recommended patriotic designs with the banners, as well.

The board tabled action on the banners until its next meeting, when more details on quotes and design details could be obtained.

Echols said said Gray Digital was working on new Tucumcari campaigns for travelers going to ski slopes in northern New Mexico.

Echols also said he recently completed a road trip on Route 66 from Amarillo to Wisconsin and was meeting with his firm's team members about his ideas from the trip.

"We're developing some neat concepts," he said.

In other business:

- The board recommended the city commission approve contracts with Lamar Advertising Co. and Sun Vista Outdoor Advertising for billboards along Interstate 40 in Texas and New Mexico respectively.

The contract renewal with Lamar covers three billboards. Rigdon voted with her fellow board members to approve the deal, though said the designs "were very dull. They just kind of blend in."

David Raybould of Sun Vista presented designs for a billboard to promote Tucumcari Municipal Golf Course. One of those designs was recommended for approval by the board.

- Melissa Beasley-Lee, representing the New Mexico Route 66 Association, during public comments pledged to work with the city regarding Route 66 centennial activities but acknowledged internal "turmoil" within the nonprofit organization is hampering those efforts.

She said the association's neon restoration program in Tucumcari was completed earlier in the week. Dozens of neon signs sustained damage during a severe hailstorm in May 2023.

She said she wants to revive a Roadside Attraction sign program in New Mexico that initially was funded by Hampton Inn hotels along the length of Route 66 about 20 years ago, but she admitted "internal strife" in the association might delay that.

Beasley-Lee claims to be president of the association, but multiple members of its board of directors maintain she resigned last spring after being confronted about alleged financial irregularities regarding grant funds. In front of the lodgers tax board, she denied stealing those funds.

Alleging a "coup" by the other Route 66 association board members, Beasley-Lee denied she was being investigated, though an open records request showed the association's board of directors had filed reports with Albuquerque Police and the New Mexico Attorney General.

In addition to the alleged financial irregularities, the reports accused her of improperly seizing association assets that include the website, social media accounts, bank accounts and magazine.

Beasley-Lee said she was denied access by Tucumcari MainStreet executive director Connie Loveland to neon and related equipment store at the Tucumcari Railroad Depot.

Loveland, who did not attend the lodgers board meeting, told the Quay County Sun she was not approached by Beasley-Lee about the neon. Loveland stated because of the ongoing dispute with the association, she was "not comfortable" releasing any of the neon and equipment to Beasley-Lee.

- Mike Lee, producer and creator of Fast TV Network, claimed during public comments that Loveland said she never received footage the company filmed of a 2022 cross-country motorcycle event in Tucumcari. He said he delivered it to her.

Loveland told the Quay County Sun she gave Fast TV's flash drive of the video footage to city manager Paula Chacon when she received it from Lee.

Lee said that footage also is stored on the cloud, and he could transfer it to the city if it needs it.

Fast TV announced in 2022 it would move from Albuquerque into Tucumcari's vacant Kmart building and convert it into a television and movie production facility, along with it hosting a New Mexico Route 66 Association museum and welcome center.

More than two years later, Fast TV Network still has not acquired the building, nor has it moved assets into it. The owner of the Classical Gas Museum in Embudo, who pledged to move his gas-station and neon sign collection there, dropped out of the project.

When asked at the meeting about the status of the Fast TV facility in Tucumcari, Lee declined to comment. Beasley-Lee, listed as vice president of the company, said she was "not at liberty to discuss that."