{"id":475507,"date":"2026-09-25T17:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T17:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475507\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T17:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T17:12:10","slug":"this-desert-town-just-2-hours-from-l-a-is-hosting-a-massive-free-two-day-route-66-festival-as-the-mother-road-turns-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475507\/","title":{"rendered":"This desert town just 2 hours from L.A. is hosting a massive free two-day Route 66 festival as the \u2018Mother Road\u2019 turns 100"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Route<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: NorthSky Films via Shutterstock.<\/p>\n

Few roads are as deeply woven into the story of American travel as Route 66.<\/a> When the highway was officially designated in 1926, it connected hundreds of communities across the country, creating new routes for commerce, migration, and tourism and helping transform the American West.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

A century later, the Mother Road is getting a year-long celebration across the country! And here in SoCal, Barstow is marking the centennial with one of its biggest Route 66 weekends yet: the 27th Annual Main Street USA Festival & Car Show,<\/a> taking over Historic Harvey House and Downtown Main Street.<\/p>\n

What to expect at the Main Street USA Festival<\/p>\n

\"RouteNorthSky Films via Shutterstock.<\/p>\n

The free,<\/a> two-day celebration will bring thousands of travelers, car enthusiasts and locals to Barstow for a packed weekend of Route 66 history, cars, entertainment and community.<\/p>\n

The event kicks off on Friday, October 9, with the National Miss Route 66 Pageant at the Historic Harvey House at 4 p.m. Later that evening, from 6 to 9 p.m., guests can enjoy dinner<\/a> and dancing, a Route 66 Museum tour, a silent auction and an evening celebrating the stories and legends of the Mother Road. There will also be a live production of John Steinbeck\u2019s The Grapes of Wrath, whose story follows a family traveling west along Route 66 during the Great Depression.<\/a><\/p>\n

Then on Saturday, October 10, the festival moves to Downtown Main Street from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the main celebration, which will include:<\/p>\n

\ud83d\ude97 Classic, modern and OHV car displays celebrating the road\u2019s automotive legacy.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfb6 Live music and entertainment, including a performance by local singer Ryan Bodine.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf54 Food, drinks and local vendors, plus a beer garden.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfa8 Art, culture and family-friendly activities.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfaf Kids\u2019 Zone with activities for younger visitors.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc83 Pin-up contest.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfdc\ufe0f Main Street experiences and Route 66 commemoratives.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfc6 A special appearance by Max Eddy Jr., a two-time Dakar Rally Champion.<\/p>\n

A brief history of Route 66<\/p>\n

\"RoutePhoto by Morten Andreassen on Unsplash.<\/p>\n

Route 66 was officially designated in 1926, connecting Chicago<\/a> with Los Angeles across eight states. The iconic highway linked small towns with major cities, fueling tourism, commerce and migration while becoming a defining route during the Dust Bowl and the rise of the American road trip.<\/p>\n

Although Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985, its legacy lives on through historic road segments, roadside attractions, museums and communities like Barstow that continue to celebrate the Mother Road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: NorthSky Films via Shutterstock. Few roads are as deeply woven into the story of American travel as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-475507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}