The Bloomington (Ill.) Pantagraph reports that a 90-mile stretch of old Route 66 from Joliet to Towanda, Ill., is going to be part of the Red Carpet Corridor Weekend Experience on May 5-6.

Not all the details have been worked out, but Pontiac is having a meeting Monday about its portion, and the corridor will have a general meeting next month.

Each town along the way is planning its own event, with the hope of drawing visitors and residents over the two days. The tour will be self-guided. [...]

Several of the towns will be hosting communitywide garage sales, crafters, antiques, food and entertainment. Alexander said each town’s events should be finalized in the coming months.

Alexander said organizers hope the event is like the Spoon River Drive in Fulton County or the Covered Bridge Festival in Parke County, Ind. She said it will take time for the Route 66 event to grow into the same size, but she believes it will be successful.

This sounds like a good idea. Many of the towns along the stretch are tiny and would have trouble scaring up the money to promote their events. But combining their forces would likely beef up attendance overall on the route — just as long as the weather’s nice.

Details are sketchy at this point, but another sinkhole appeared in Galena, Kan., late Saturday.

Rod Harsh of Route 66 TV Online tells me the sinkhole, which is up to 20 feet deep already, appeared at Bob H. Carr Used Cars at 410 W. Seventh St. in Galena, just off Route 66 near the Sonic Drive-In. The sinkhole is likely caused by an underground cave-in of one of the old lead mines that dot the area.

This is a troubling development, because lead-mine sinkholes already have caused the long-term closing of a U.S. highway near Picher, Okla., just a few miles away. This may force the closing of Kansas Highway 66, aka historic 66, if the sinkhole grows.

Another sinkhole caused trouble in Galena in July when one opened up behind the old Green Parrot Tavern and damaged the back of the building. In fact, the Joplin (Mo.) Globe on Wednesday reported about a task force trying to address the potential cave-in problems in Galena.

UPDATE: Harsh reports Sunday that the sinkhole is only about five feet across and five feet deep. It also hasn’t grown since Saturday night, so let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Galena, Kan., held its annual Christmas parade Saturday. Larry and Judy Courtney were grand marshals. Larry owns the C&A Corp. in town, and he and his wife are helping restore an old Marathon gas station along old 66 in town and acquired an old boom truck that was the inspiration to Tow Mater in the hit summer movie about Route 66, “Cars.”

Rod Harsh of Route 66 TV Online reports what happened next:

Around 4:30 pm, and just as the end of the parade was passing throught the center of Galena’s business district, an explosion with a huge cloud of black smoke suddenly appeared at the north end of town, and three of Galena’s fire engines in the parade dropped-off their riders and sped toward the fire. Santa, however, got the ride of his life as he was a lone passenger on the lead truck.

Other fire trucks also responded from nearby Riverton and Baxter Springs, and assisted Galena firefighters extinguish the fire in one of C&A’s large metal workshops.

The Galena Fire Department had earlier participated in the 12 Noon Riverton, and 2 pm. Baxter Springs parades, and were fortunate that they were just a half-mile away from the fire with nearly all of their apparatus and firefighters. The fire was extinguished in about 30 minutes and the structure suffered heavy smoke damage. It may be some time before the cause and damage cost will be known. The C & A Corp. is located one block off Route 66 in North Galena.

Harsh has photos of the parade and fire here. I’ll post more reports about the fire as they become available.

Melissa McClelland, the Canadian singer-songwriter who traveled Route 66 this summer with a film crew, has posted the second part of her podcast.

“Guardian Angel of Route 66″ Angel Delgadillo and longtime Pig Hip restaurant owner Ernie Edwards get a lot of time in the eight-minute segment.

McClelland performs “Solitary Life” behind the historic Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba, Mo.

Part 2 can be viewed here (Internet Explorer 6 only; broadband is recommended). I also highly urge that you view Part 1 if you haven’t done so. It’s at the same link.

Also, at McClelland’s MySpace site, there is a slideshow from her Route 66 trip. It’s under the music videos.