By Debbie Robinson

news@joplinglobe.com

MIAMI, Okla. — A three-state collaboration to market historic Route 66 and its attractions has city and tourism officials hoping more tourists will “get their kicks on Route 66” in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Larry Eller, community grants coordinator for the city of Miami, said the municipality plans to apply for a $50,000 grant from the National Scenic Byways Program. The money would finance a 48-page tourism brochure that would feature the route and attractions through the three states from Vinita to Carthage.

Deadline for the grant application is April 2.

“Once we cross state lines, tourism doesn’t stop,” Eller said.

The tourism brochure is designed to offer day trips for tourists to drive the historic roadway and visit attractions along the way, such as the historic Coleman Theater in downtown Miami, the Rainbow Bridge on old Route 66 in Baxter Springs, Kan., and Route 66 Drive-In movie theater at Carthage.

“We want people to make several day trips in this area,” Eller said. “Route 66 is hot.”

The historic Route 66 was named to the World Monuments Fund 2008 Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites, along with cultural sites in Iraq and Machu Picchu in Peru, according to the National Parks Service.

Eller said the old highway system still holds many unique features, such as Ribbon Road, a three-mile section of the original 9-foot-wide roadway south of Miami. Another similar stretch is near Afton.

The Marathon Gas Station in Miami, built in the 1920s, is the only existing station constructed by Marathon Oil Co.

The building now houses a hair salon, Eller said, but renovation is under way on the exterior.

The appeal of the roadway’s attractions is drawing not only travelers from the United States, but also from abroad.

Eller said a family from Germany recently was in Miami and expressed interest in local attractions, including Route 66.

Other communities involved in the project share similar stories, he said.

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.

She credited Eller for his vision in pushing for the project.

“He’s taken something that a lot of cities wouldn’t have thought of,” she said.

Chuck Surface, economic development director for the city of Webb City, agreed.

Surface said the city is hoping to expand on its Route 66 heritage and bring more tourists into the town to drive the old roadway, visit Bradbury’s Deli and see the Route 66 mural across the street from the deli.

“We think there’s a real market out there,” he said.

In Joplin, Vince Lindstrom, director of the Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau, expressed his approval for the project.

“It’s a real commitment we’re going to make, because we think the draw would be a good one,” he said.

Besides bringing people to the downtown on Main Street, once a stretch of Route 66, visitors would find the Joplin Mineral Museum and other attractions.

Lindstrom said the collaboration between the states and towns was a positive approach to tourism.

“It’s long overdue, and it’s the wave of the future,” he said. “We’re getting more international travelers, and they have no idea if they are in Kansas or Missouri when they’re driving down the street.”