
We've worked with the Get Your Kicks Tour '23 to bring these amazing musicians to Jazz UpFront in Bloomington Wed., Oct. 18!! Conference attendee $20 tickets are VIP and include attendance at sound check, meet the band, photo ops, VIP seating, and special souvenir! Ticket purchase link coming soon!
SARA NIEMIETZ-ROBBY ROBINSON Tour '23 featuring VINNY MARTELL from Vanilla Fudge & TRAVIS CLOER from Jersey Boys! A Musical Trip Down ROUTE 66--coming to Bloomington Oct 18!
Get your tickets before October 1 to get the Early Bird Discount! Limited seating available for some events, so book now!
The conference BEGINS on Thursday, October 19, with a walking tour and a full slate of speakers, followed by a hot dog roast.
A special series of Lunch and Learn sessions focus on tourism for community staff and volunteers. The sessions are presented by seasoned tourism professionals Bob Navarro, President and CEO of the Heritage Corridor Convention and Visitors Bureau; Scott Dahl, Director of the Springfield (IL) Convention & Visitors Bureau; and Cory Jobe, President and CEO of the Great Rivers and Routes Tourism Bureau. These sessions include a lunch and require registration.
Scroll down for latest press releases and visit our other pages with complete conference information.
The conference meets in BOTH Bloomington and Normal:
Thursday’s conference sessions take place at the McLean County Museum of History, 200 N. Main Street, Downtown Bloomington.
Friday and Saturday conference sessions take place at Uptown Station, 11 Uptown Circle, Normal.
The first conference was held at the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville, Illinois, in 2015. Subsequent conferences were held in Bloomington-Normal (2016), Joliet (2017), Carlinville (2018), Normal (2019), all-virtual (2021), and Pontiac (2022). Each event has featured a combination of some of the biggest names on the contemporary Route 66 scene - historians, authors, explorers, photographers, artists, and cartographers - and also experts, academics, and professionals featuring the local history and culture of each host city. Each year, social and networking activities round out the long weekend schedule. The event rotates along Illinois Route 66 to showcase different communities.
From the first conference held at the historic Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville in 2015, we knew this was a special kind of event. Gathering Route 66 aficionados, historians, authors, artisans, travelers, and explorers from across the U.S. and around the world, the annual event offers presentations, programs, workshops, Route 66-focused arts and entertainment, and social and networking activities. It is the only annual conference that focuses on the history, preservation, and economic development of Route 66. "Route 66 Miles of Possibility" is now a nonprofit organization to provide greater capacity and expertise for future events!
Do you have questions or comments about the event? Do you need special accommodations? Send me a message, and I will get back to you as soon as I can.