TRANSCRIPT:
Layden: Lieutenant Governor Matt Pennell, 2026 marks 100 years of Route 66. What makes it — the Mother Road, America’s Main Street — what makes it so special and historically significant?
Pinnell: I mean, it really is the mother road. It is Americana. It’s what America means to a lot of tourists around the world. You know, when a lot countries that were under communist regimes 35 plus years ago, when they listened to the radio or television shows or movies in America, that mother road, Route 66, it meant America to them. So when we see that brown historic Route 66 sign in Oklahoma a lot of people may not think a whole lot, but to international tourists that means freedom. It truly means freedom to tourists around the world.
And so you have multiple languages being spoken in small towns and across Oklahoma’s portion of Route 66 almost every single week. So it’s a pretty powerful message when you really get to the heart of it. It truly is the best Americas road trip that I think you can take in America today. And to see its resurgence leading up to the 100 year birthday, it’s pretty exciting.
Layden: You mentioned those brown highway markers. We now have other markers. I was in Luther a few weeks ago for the dedication of one of these centennial monuments. It’s not the only one in the state, right? How big of a deal has that been? I know that some of the folks I
talked to talked about how little iconography on the route there was in the past, but that’ s changing.
Pinnell: Oh, it’s changing all right. Yeah, it seems like we’re pretty unified behind playing to our strengths as a state and we have the most miles of Route 66 than any other state in the country. Maybe we should focus some time, energy and resources behind that most famous road in the world. And as I said, 400 drivable miles of it. So it’s really exciting to see communities stepping up, but not just communities. I give the state legislature credit for creating a revitalization grant that cities can tap into. That’s why we have, you know, over 20 construction projects going on right now across our portion of Route 66.
But what you’re also seeing is entrepreneurs stepping up. You’re seeing new small business owners saying, hey, if the city’s involved, if the state’s gonna be involved, then as an entrepreneur, I’m gonna open a business along Route 66 as well. So there’s a domino effect that is happening.
Layden: Talking about next year being the centennial, we’re getting some of the picture of some of the events and festivities that will be happening next year. What are some of the ones that you’re most excited about?
Pinnell: We have two real big events, kind of kickoff events as we’re calling them, on May 30th. One in Tulsa, which has really kind of dubbed themselves the capital of Route 66, which in a lot of ways is true because of Cyrus Avery being from there and running the road through the Tulsa area. And then, yes, the 20th largest city in America being Oklahoma city, which is also right on Route 66. So we have the Route 66 — a big festival at Scissortail Park on May 30th really throughout the entire day. It’ll culminate with a big concert that evening. There’s gonna be a lot going on in downtown Oklahoma City on May 30th, we hope around playoff basketball here in Oklahoma City.
And then in Tulsa they are going for the world record car parade — longest car parade — which is kind of cool. Guinness Book of World Records will be there with the clicker and we have to have a certain amount of historic cars in this car parade. Visit Tulsa is already signing people up. And then November 11th — November 11 next year is the official 100 year birthday — we’re gonna be doing kind of a centennial crawl type of event around museums and restaurants in the Tulsa area, culminating with a concert at the historic Cain’s Ballroom the evening of November 11.
Layden: Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Matt Pennell, thank you for taking a few minutes.
Pinnell: Yeah, thanks for having me.
This interview has been edited for time.
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