Take a trip through time with the AAA Route 66 Road Fest

The entire family is in for a one-of-a-kind trip through this year’s inaugural AAA Route 66 Road Fest. The event offers a head start to the historic highway’s 100-year anniversary in 2026, serving as the first installment of a five-year celebration. The circuit will make stops in Oklahoma City, June 18-19; and Tulsa, June 25-26.

THE JOURNEY: ROUTE 66 THROUGH THE DECADES

The Bennet Event Center at the OKC Fairgrounds will host the first weekend of activities. A hand-crafted 14,000 square foot exhibit, "Journey" will take center stage, incorporating an interactive journey through the previous 100 years, with live actors dressed for the times.

Journey includes artifacts, photos, video, fashion, brands, and automobiles related to Route 66, and was curated and designed by Wade Bray, AAA Route 66 Road Fest Co-producer and Creative Director of SRO Agency. As the creator of the concept, Bray conducted research, provided copywriting, and acquired the artifacts incorporated in the exhibit.

Bray’s plans were then built into reality by Rich Goss, who developed building plans and oversaw construction of the exhibit.

"The creation of the Road Fest’s 'Journey' has been a massive undertaking and the biggest challenge of my 30 plus year career doing events," Bray said, "Working alongside Rich Goss, our exhibit builder, and William Franklin, who gave us some beautiful concept art for inspiration, has been amazing. What people are going to see at the Road Fest is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s an exhibit any museum would be proud of, and I truly believe has something for visitors of every age, background and level of interest in history."

Tulsa artist, William Franklin – conveniently nicknamed William the Artist – was commissioned to create concept art for the exhibit, that was then adapted and used as a basis for elements within Journey.

Franklin is known for his trompe l’oeil murals in places like Disney Land, as well as works like his design at Winstar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville – one of Oklahoma’s largest mural projects to-date.

ROAD FEST MUSIC EXPERIENCE

Musicians will have a stage of their own through the Road Fest Music Experience. The Oklahoma City lineup will feature artists of a wide variety, with Jason Boland & The Stragglers headlining Saturday night, and Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights headlining Sunday.

See all artists performing

Each Road Fest ticket holder will have a chance to meet the bands, buy merchandise, and take pictures through an included experience in the Dell Technologies Artist Lounge.

AUTHORS AND HISTORIANS

The festival will also feature a presentation stage for historians and authors to amplify the impact of Route 66 in the United States.

Award-winning author, photographer, and cultural documentarian Candacy Taylor will speak with the Oklahoma City audience on Saturday, with a focus on the Green Book. The Green Book was an annual guidebook for Black cross-country travelers, established in 1936 by Victor Hugo Green. The book helped an upcoming Black American middle-class expand their horizons through travel, by documenting minority-specific motorist tips during the discriminatory Jim Crow era.

"I am thrilled to be speaking at AAA Route 66 Road Fest because it shows that they are committed to telling the entire story of this fabled highway," Taylor said, "Although Nat King Cole popularized the Mother Road’s iconic anthem, telling motorists to "get their kicks on Route 66," this carefree adventure he was promoting wasn't meant for him. Since nearly half of the counties on Route 66 were sundown towns - which were places that banned Black people from entering after dark - driving Route 66 felt less like a fun adventure and more like navigating a minefield. And even in the places that weren’t sundown towns, it was not guaranteed that Black motorists would be served in the local restaurants, motels, or even gas stations. Thanks to the Green Book, a life-saving Black travel guide, they answered the call of the open road armed with pride, resiliency, ingenuity, and power."

Oklahoma Route 66 Hall of Fame inductee, Michael Wallis.

The first inductee of the Oklahoma Route 66 Hall of Fame, and author of “Route 66: The Mother Road,” Michael Wallis, will also speak on Saturday. This won’t be Wallis’ first gig as a speaker. He voiced Sheriff in the Pixar animation series, Cars; films that reimagine Route 66 locations.

As a journalist, historian, author, and speaker; Wallis has received recognition for his work, winning the John Steinbeck Award, the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award, the Will Rogers Spirit Award, and Western Heritage Award. The award-winning author has also been inducted into the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame, Writers Hall of Fame of America, and the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame.

Wallis will offer a one-on-one conversation with Route 66 Alliance Executive Director & CEO, Ken Busby to the Oklahoma City audience.

"I came to the Mother Road thanks to Michael Wallis," Busby said, "I had certainly known about it -11th Street, and the Disney-Pixar movie “Cars” - but it wasn’t a major factor in my life.  I have so enjoyed working with Michael and learning the history of Route 66 and its incredible father, Cyrus Avery.  Today, as executive director of the Route 66 Alliance, I love promoting Route 66, raising its profile, and working with the lieutenant governor to promote Route 66 as economic development via cultural tourism."

Author, Joe Sonderman, will be the first to speak on Sunday. Sonderman’s “Route 66 Then and Now” compares the historic highway’s landscapes and occupants of the past to their contemporary counterparts. Ken Busby will join Sonderman on stage for the events’ second one-on-one presentation.

Sonderman and Wallis will join Oklahoma historian, Bob Blackburn, for a conversation on Route 66; past, present, and future for the event’s final presentation.

Blackburn was recently announced as a 2022 Oklahoma Hall of Fame Honoree. The author and public speaker served as the executive director of Oklahoma Historical Society from 1999 to 2021, where he helped redefine the society’s infrastructure. Blackburn has also received honors from the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award for his 41 years of service.

The heralded historian is credited with playing a major role in establishing the Oklahoma History Center, the only institution in the United States affiliated with, both, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Archives.

CAR SHOWS

The Classic Car Show will help secure a spot in history for vehicles of a wide variety. 14 classes of cars from clubs across the country will come together for this juried competition. Vehicles will be judged on cleanliness and condition, as well as workmanship. The top three in each category will receive an inaugural Route 66 Road Fest trophy. AAA will also award the “Best in Show.”

The festival will have a Cars & Coffee event from 9 a.m. to noon, where car owners can gather outside the gates of the event for free, and fellowship. Trophies will be awarded for “Best Car” and “Crowd Favorite” each day.

"AAA has developed the Route 66 Road Fest to recognize and celebrate the great history of Route 66 from expanded mobility in the 20s and 30s to a slice of Americana with the nostalgia and culture it created throughout the decades," Jared Peterson, Executive Vice President, Member Experience of AAA Club Alliance Inc. said, "We are also using the Road Fest to draw awareness to the upcoming Route 66 Centennial which will be a national and international celebration in 2026.  AAA and Route 66 have so much in common supporting the Great American Road Trip through history and we are very excited to introduce the Route 66 Road Fest to continue this tradition together and begin a build up for a grand celebration for the Centennial featured right here in the great state of Oklahoma."

Vintage AAA service vehicle and customers.

Navya will allow Road Fest ticketholders to look into the Mother Road’s future by taking free test rides in their Autonom autonomous shuttles. The self-driving shuttles can transport up to 15 passengers at a time, with various transport configurations for able-bodied individuals, as well as those with reduced mobility.

Road Fest patrons can also take part in the RV Park Experience. The festival will include a rest area made up of vintage and modern RVs, surrounding a campground where visitors can explore their interests in the road trip-inspired exhibition.

Ticketholders can park themselves in an Indoor Drive-In space and see a movie. The drive-in attraction allows for up to four people to sit inside each of the room’s “cars” and watch from an oversized movie screen, depicting the design of drive-in movie theatres of America’s pastime.

KIDS ACTIVITIES

For the kids who want to keep things moving, Road Fest has arranged a Pinewood Derby. Partnering with Boy Scouts of America, the festival will feature sanctioned races of custom-built wooden vehicles, as well as opportunities for ticketholders to choose pre-built cars to race friends and family.

A robotics and drone area will allow kids to take a look at today’s newest technologies. The exhibit emphasizes the continuous nature of travel, and the ongoing advancements within its’ industry.

Road Fest’s Activity Zone will have more material to test kid’s minds. The virtual reality arena allows ticketholders to a trip through one of four virtual reality spaces to complete a chosen challenge.

A miniature golf course mimics the many landmarks along Route 66. Inspired by stops like The Gateway Arch, Blue Whale of Catoosa, The Cadillac Ranch, and more; the festival’s mini-golf course is enough to get anyone interested.

The festival will also incorporate interactive art areas where kids can color their favorite Route 66 scenes. A paint along class, guided by Rosemary Daugherty of Tulsa’s Moonlight Art Factory, will also be available for kids and adults to take part in. You can register now to save your spot.