Tulsa is marking its ninth annual 918 Day this Saturday with a free passport challenge that sends locals hunting for stamps at 13 Route 66 landmarks scattered across the city, timed to the highway's 100th birthday. The self-guided tour runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on September 19, and participants can start at whichever stop is closest to home.
The event, covered by FOX23, asks people to pick up a passport at any of the 13 locations or print one at home, then collect a unique stamp at each site they visit. Passports and branded swag are available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last, and participants don't need to hit the stops in any particular order. Samantha Extance, destination district manager for the City of Tulsa, told the station the stops were chosen to highlight the people and projects that preserved and revitalized Route 66 in Tulsa.
The route covers a wide swath of the highway's local footprint, including Circle Cinema, the Route 66 Historical Village, the Meadow Gold neon sign, Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza, Tulsa Fire Station 66, the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, the Route 66 Interpretive Plaza, the Visit Tulsa Visitor Center, a Sinclair service station, an art-wrapped Route 66 traffic control box, Howard Park, and the Blue Dome. A bonus 13th stamp awaits at the Tulsa Parks Handmade Market at Veterans Park, which runs the same day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to FOX23's reporting.
A Highway Born From a Tulsa Businessman's Lobbying
Route 66 exists in Tulsa largely because of one man's persistence. Cyrus Avery played a major role in routing Route 66 through Tulsa via the 11th Street Bridge, according to On Ginnie's Block. That bridge, built in 1916, was at the time the only concrete span across the Arkansas River west of the Mississippi. FOX23 reports Avery played a major role in establishing Route 66 and that the national Route 66 Association was founded in Tulsa in the 1920s.
Avery's legacy is memorialized at Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza, one of the passport stops, where an East Meets West statue stands. The 2012 monument, created by artist Robert Summers, per a Facebook post from the plaza's page. Rhys Martin, president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, told FOX23 the passport challenge should encourage people to become tourists in their own city, and that preserving Route 66 requires new memories made through businesses, restaurants, attractions and experiences.
Civil Rights History at the Blue Dome
One of the route's most layered stops is the Blue Dome, built in 1924 as a 24-hour White Star Gulf Oil station along Tulsa's original Route 66 alignment, according to Visit Tulsa. FOX23 reports the site now offers a digital kiosk detailing Black travelers' experiences during that era, and that a Green Book site was once located directly across the street. Greenwood Main Street representatives are set to discuss Green Book sites in the district as part of the day's programming, per FOX23.
The Blue Dome's building today anchors downtown Tulsa's entertainment district of the same name, a transformation that mirrors the broader arc of the passport route: infrastructure built for the automobile age repurposed as cultural memory. Author Michael Wallis published his book Route 66: The Mother Road from Tulsa in 1990, a work FOX23 notes helped cement the city's identity within the highway's national story.
Neon Signs and Decades of Investment
Another stop, the Meadow Gold neon sign, tells a similar preservation story. Built in 1934 for the Beatrice Creamery Company, the sign was saved from demolition in 2004 through a National Park Service grant and re-illuminated in 2009 on a custom brick pavilion at 11th Street and Peoria Avenue, according to the Oklahoma Route 66 Association. The sign was moved from its original site to preserve it.
Tulsa's Neon Sign Grant Program is among the city's broader Route 66 efforts. FOX23 reports the neon program is among the city's broader Route 66 efforts, which also include Tulsa's ongoing installation of vinyl art wraps on Route 66 traffic control boxes, a project Hoodline previously covered in August when fabrication began for 34 vinyl wraps involving 21 local artists and using federal ARPA dollars.
FOX23 reports Tulsa has about 28 miles of Route 66 across two alignments and has invested more than two decades in building its Route 66 identity. The city has continued building its Route 66 identity along that corridor. Route 66 was established.
Renewed Pride, Nine Years Running
918 Day is an annual Tulsa celebration. FOX23 reports the passport challenge aims to encourage people to explore beyond a single stop, and Extance said she hopes participants finish the day with renewed pride in their community.
This year's version leans into the Route 66 centennial theme, threading the city's highway history through the celebration.
