Eller has been meeting with representatives from the cities and the convention and visitors bureaus to complete the details of the collaboration, which should be in full force later this year or in early 2009.

A total of 150,000 free copies will be distributed to tourism offices and centers, and to cities, he said.

The $10,000 grant match will be divided among the participating cities, he said.

“No city money will be involved,” Eller told the Miami City Council last week.

Bureaus at Joplin and Carthage have pledged $3,000 and $1,000, respectively, he said. Webb City also has pledged $1,000 toward the match.

Eller said the University of Oklahoma has agreed to design the brochure at no charge. The printing will be bid under state regulations.

Advertising is expected to pay the printing costs, he said.

Amanda Davis, director of the Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the project is designed to target tourists already coming to the towns for other attractions, such as the casinos in Miami.

Based on a survey by the casinos, Davis said, 80 percent of the visitors to the casinos are from Missouri.

“This gives us the opportunity to branch out,” she said. “At the end of the day, my job is to put people in hotel rooms.”

The largest market draw for tourism is the “50-and-older group,” she said.

Kate Massey, director of the Carthage Convention and Visitors Bureau, sees the project as a unique advertising tool for all of the communities to draw more visitors.

“Route 66 is a major part of our heritage,” she said.

While in Carthage, she said, visitors can see the old Boots Motel, now an apartment complex, where Clark Gable once slept, or KOM Baseball Stadium, built in 1938, where Mickey Mantle once played.

“This is really a neat opportunity,” Massey said.