Route 66 roadsters return to Joliet for Red Carpet Corridor Festival

The annual Red Carpet Corridor Festival for Route 66 returned this weekend, creating more points of interest for adventuring motorists than the average person would expect in a drive southward from Joliet.

The Red Carpet Corridor Festival, which highlights points of interest between Joliet and Bloomington, started Saturday and continues Sunday.

Jim Svehla of Oswego said his last trip on the route took nine hours to take in the roadside curiosities.

“There were so many things to see,” Svehla said.

The Red Carpet Corridor Festival is designed to accentuate such points of interest as the Old Joliet Prison in Joliet, a mining museum in Godley, and the “Historic 1932 Standard Oil Gas Station” in Odell.

But it is the people as much as the places that seem to be an attraction for Route 66 travelers.

“And, the people were so friendly,” Svehla said of the trip.

The hospitality along Route 66, far beyond Bloomington, was a common refrain among those who came at the Joliet Area Historical Museum on Saturday for their first stop in the Red Carpet Corridor Festival.

Bob and Darlene Zeier of Prospect Heights were among members of the North Shore Corvette Club that were driving their Corvettes down the so-called Mother Road on Saturday.

The Zeiers made a previous trip on Route 66 along its entire length from Chicago to California.

“We allowed three weeks for it, and we had a great time,” Bob Zeier said. “We met people from all over the world.”

The historic highway is known to attract travelers from Europe, South America, Asia and Africa lured by whatever charms the historic highway held in its heydays of the 1950s and 1960s.

“I definitely like the Americana,” said Emily Hinderliter of Glen Carbon, which is near St. Louis.

Hinderliter and her husband, Jody, traveled to Joliet to take part in the Red Carpet Corridor Festival and drive south back home.

The Hinderliters are in their 30s and too young to have nostalgic memories of Route 66.

But they are not too young to be attracted by the lure of the open road, which Route 66 had for travelers of a bygone era.

“I definitely like the road trip aspect of it,” Jody said, adding that he, like Emily, is attracted by the “weird stuff” along the drive.

The weird stuff they look forward to includes the Blue Whale of Catoosa, an attraction in Oklahoma where they plan to stop during a cross-country Route 66 trip next year.

Joliet and other communities are preparing for a 100th anniversary celebration of Route 66 in 2026.

Many of the Red Carpet travelers said they plan to travel the entire route next year for the 100th anniversary event.

Others have their own special attachments to the highway, which seems to appeal to a both a broad sense of the nation’s history and very personal attachments.

“Route 66 is special to a lot of people,” said Karen Horn, an employee of the Joliet Area Historical Museum who was keeping track of Route 66 Red Carpet visitors on Saturday.

By 9 a.m., 100 people had arrived at the Joliet Area Historical Museum for the Red Carpet event. By 10 p.m., 200 people came to the Joliet museum to start their trip.

The Red Carpet event also featured travelers in classic cars and unique vehicles, none of which stood out more than the Fusion van that owner Randy Alling of Channahon brought to the festival.

The elongated vehicle consists of two Ford Fusions, a GMC Vandura cabin, an inexplicable airplane attachment and Route 66 artwork that made it a must-photo for Red Carpet travelers.

“I’ve only had it out four or five times because it gets this sort of attention,” Alling said.

Alling described himself as the “caretaker” of the Fusion van, which he bought two years ago and which was originally assembled by a couple attached to Route 66 travel. How he got it is a long story.

Encountering cars of yesteryear is part of the fun of Route 66 travel, said Dave Dombroski of Tinley Park, who was driving a Dodge Charger of recent vintage modeled after the Chargers he remembered from his youth

But nothing is more enjoyable than the people he meets along the way.

“You have a lot of cars,” Dombroski said, “but you meet a lot of nice people.”