Telegraph Ball caps off Route 66 celebration

It was billed as a black-tie event, but that description didn’t quite cover the white spats and flapper fascinators that turned up at the Telegraph Ball, a gala held to cap off the city’s three-day celebration of a century of Route 66.

The Mother Road was established here in 1926, and the roughly 400 guests at the $500-per-plate dinner turned the calendar back 100 years with their elegant Art Deco fashions. A celebratory mood fueled a charity auction with items like a Rolex Submariner watch, a diamond line necklace and bracelet, a couples’ golf and dinner retreat to Big Cedar Lodge and a private, chef-prepared dinner in a wine cave at Robert Low’s Primatara estate.

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe told the crowd that the auction generated $54,250 at the historic Shrine Mosque.

“Springfield, you rocked it! Congratulations,” Kehoe said as gold confetti rained down at the conclusion of the event.

Afterwards, Cora Scott, chair of the National Route 66 Centennial Kickoff Celebration, said ticket sales and sponsorships added an estimated $500,000. She noted that the event was put on by the Missouri Route 66 Centennial Commission with state-appropriated dollars, and funds go toward kickoff expenses, plus additional projects of the commission for its work across the state’s Route 66 counties.

Kickoff cap
The ball capped off a series of celebratory events that began in the early hours of April 30, as hundreds of audience members lined up for a live taping of the Third Hour of NBC’s “Today” show, followed later in the day by the dedication of Birthplace Plaza at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Park Central East and a kickoff concert.

The celebration continued through the weekend with the dedication of the Queen’s Gate 66 sculpture at the start of the Route 66 St. Louis Street alignment, with a two-hour parade of classic cars and activities to rededicate and celebrate the Jefferson Avenue Footbridge on Commercial Street.

Asked to assess the celebration, guests at the gala expressed enthusiasm.

“I am so proud of our city,” said Callie Carroll, City Council member and the gala’s auctioneer with her husband, Seth Swafford, president of Palen Music Center.

She added, “Every person I’ve talked to that’s from out of the area talks about how beautiful our city is, how kind our people are and how much there is to do here, and that could not make my heart be happier.”

Carroll also co-hosted the centennial concert with actor John Goodman.

“It was so much fun,” she said. “The energy is just so high right now in Springfield.”

David Harrison, former poet laureate of Missouri and the official poet laureate of the kickoff, presented five original poems at events during the celebration, including the gala.

“It was extremely well programmed,” he said of the celebration. “It just couldn’t have been any better. You catch the excitement and the fun of it. I’ve talked to people from other states that are here, and they’re glad they were part of it.”

Harrison, who is 89, said his first memory of traveling Route 66 was when he was 4 years old and moved with his parents from Springfield to Arizona, and that was one of many memories that informed his poems.

Civic pride
Scott said she felt very good about the kickoff.

“What really makes me excited is the civic pride that it’s cultivated, and you can feel that in the city right now – and not just our city, but across the state,” she said.

She added that commissioners from Missouri’s 10 Route 66 counties were at the gala, and events are continuing all across the state throughout the centennial year.

The energy will continue in Springfield as well, she said, with permanent installations providing a warm welcome to guests.

“Queen’s Gate is just exceeding expectations,” she said. “I can already tell it’s going to be an iconic location along the entire route, and that’s what it’s intended to do.”

Greg Burris, former Springfield city manager, said he was most excited by the rededication of the Jefferson Avenue Footbridge.

“That’s a problem we’ve been working on for a dozen years,” he said. “To see it come to fruition and light up – it gave me goosebumps.”

Burris said when he first started as city manager, a community member approached him with a concern.

“He said, you know, we’re the birthplace of Route 66, and you can’t tell,” he said. “That triggered some thoughts, and they’ve taken the idea and run with it. The civic pride this weekend is off the charts.”

Current City Manager David Cameron, who emceed the Jefferson Avenue Footbridge rededication, said he also noticed the positive energy.

“I love seeing Springfield come together like this, and the state and the nation watching,” he said.

The momentum matches the feedback Cameron said he has received in his listening sessions across the city.

“How do we keep building from this momentum?” he said. “Because this is what the community wants to see and talk about. People want to feel that energy that you’re seeing.”

Mayor Jeff Schrag said hundreds of people had been working on the weekend’s events for three years.

“I’m so humbled,” he said. “We’ve had an international spotlight on Springfield, Missouri – that Springfield truly deserves – and I love it.”

Missouri State University head football coach Casey Woods, a newcomer to the city, characterized the celebration as awesome.

“What a cool opportunity for Springfield to capitalize off of,” he said. “To peel back the layers on the history and how invested its citizens are – it’s cool to be a part of, a cool time to be here.”

Also from MSU, Brent Dunn, vice president for university advancement, called the weekend a full-circle moment for the university.

“John Woodruff, who founded Route 66, helped found Missouri State in 1905,” he said, noting Woodruff gathered together $25,000 from 200 people to help start the university. “With him being part of Route 66 and Missouri State, the connection is there. We are Route 66.”

Economic opportunity
Jessica Harmison-Olson, co-owner with husband Ryan Olson of Maxon Fine Jewelry, donated the Rolex and diamond jewelry for the auction. She said she believes the energy from the kickoff and the new Route 66 installations will rev up economic opportunities in the city.

Asked if the impact will have lasting benefits, she replied, “I absolutely believe that it will. It has really created some excitement.”

She added, “The businesses are bustling, and my hope for the community is that that will continue.”

Amanda Ohlensehlen, the city’s director of workforce and economic vitality, agreed that Route 66 century-mark festivities and its addition of permanent tourist attractions will help drive long-term economic gains for the Springfield area.

“I really do feel like that is going to be a game-changer for us, being able to lean into our Route 66 heritage, being able to reestablish some iconic locations within Springfield, being able to invite businesses in from our state, our nation and international visitors,” she said.

But the value is also available for people who live in Springfield, she said.

“It also helps our local residents reimagine how they can experience some of the places around Springfield,” she said. “We have so many wonderful destinations – it’s great to be able to elevate that with this national attention.”