TULSA, Okla. — City of Tulsa, State of Oklahoma, Cherokee Nation, and Route 66 preservation officials led hundreds in celebrating the centennial of the Mother Road on Nov. 11, paying special tribute to local businesses.
"We’ve got four hundred miles of Route 66 across the state," Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell said during the ceremony. "They’re still there because of those small businesses owners, those dreamers."
"Dreamers" can easily refer to the countless tourism and hospitality businesses run by Tulsans, the local leaders said.
Local businesses also lead in taking care of the wheels on Tulsa's Route 66, like Lazar Imports.
"We’ve actually been in business since 1985," Lazar Imports' manager Quoc Vo told 2 News. "And the whole time we’ve been on Route 66, but we’ve been at this location since 2001. And of all of the shops in this area (Meadow Gold District), we are actually the longest-established business."
For the lucky drivers of Route 66's American-made staples, there are shops for that too, like Sams Mechanic Shop on 6th and Utica.
"I like the atmosphere and I like the people it brings in," owner Jim Sams said of working on classic cars often. "And it’s just a neat deal to be around. We’ve been to (Route) 66 in Chicago, we’ve been the other way (and) both ways’ type deal. Like I said, we do a lot of car events.”
Even those with little expertise in cars recognize their significance in Tulsa's portion of the famous road.
"I used to work at Borders, and it would be neat watching the people come in to see what local history books we had about Route 66, because they’d start at the beginning (of the road),” Katie Lapardus said before the Nov. 11 celebration in front of Cain's Ballroom.
The ceremony concluded with a happy birthday sing-along to Route 66, complete with confetti raining down and a free cupcake giveaway.
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