World Street Painting Festival
From 2024 through 2026, during the first week of June, Visit Joplin MO, in partnership with the World Street Painting Foundation, hosts the World Street Painting Festival to commemorate and celebrate the 2026 centennial of Route 66.
In 2024, I cruised Route 66 by hitching a ride on top of a VW Bug or in a motorcycle sidecar, or by grabbing the handlebars of a motorcycle and two-wheeling away into the sunset, all from the front walkway of the Cornell Arts and Entertainment Complex on Route 66 in downtown Joplin.
How is that possible? Did I need to have a motorcycle license? Strap myself to the top of a Bug? Know a friendly biker?
Nope! It can all be experienced safely via three-dimensional art painted on the concrete!
When I first viewed the art on the ground, it just looked like a stretched-out painting, and I really couldn’t tell what the image was. But when I stood in the “footsteps” of the viewing angle, it suddenly came to life! By positioning myself, with some help from my photographer, standing in the footsteps, I became part of the art, living a much more exciting imaginary life than I could ever actually experience. Off I went on my virtual Mother Road adventure!
From 2024 through 2026, during the first week of June, Visit Joplin MO, in partnership with the World Street Painting Foundation, hosts the World Street Painting Festival to commemorate and celebrate the 2026 centennial of Route 66.
The first year, US artists created the works found on the front “porch” of the Cornell Complex. Nate Baranowski painted Sidecar Pup, Naomi Haverland gave us the Flying VW Bug, and Chris Carlson put us on his motorcycle in Cruising 66.
In 2025, the Festival hosted 10 more domestic and international artists. The images were painted right off Route 66 at a former entrance to Schifferdecker Park on the corner of 7th Street (Route 66) and Schifferdecker Avenue.
So many more adventures to be had on America’s Main Street!
I started by jumping on a motorcycle with Boomer, the former miner groundhog mascot of the Visit Joplin MO office. Holding tight to his furry little body, we zoomed away via the image Boomer Motorcycle Cruisin’, created by Roberto Carlos Trevino from Mexico. I love that critter.
Jumping off the back of Boomer’s bike, I then sat atop the world in the famous, giant, Red Rocker Chair Route 66 icon from Fanning, Missouri, courtesy of Italian artist Fabio Fedele. I felt a little bit like Lily Tomlin’s Edith Ann!
Climbing down from the rocker, I hopped into a UFO created by Jan Riggins in her image, Aliens on Route 66, and off through the universe I rode with my new, green, little friend. We departed after a stop to fill up at an old-fashioned filling station in an homage to Roswell, New Mexico.
Oddly, I didn’t end up on Mars, but instead in the desert of the American Southwest section of Route 66 on a skateboard! Kerim Musanovic, from Bosnia and Herzegovina, sent me on a death-defying ride through the Arches on Skateboard.
Artist Leon Keer, from the Netherlands, took me back in time to one of Joplin’s greatest treasures: Crystal Cave. Sadly, the real Crystal Cave, one of the world’s largest geodes, is no longer accessible. Eighty feet underground, the cave was host to a six-story venue with dancing and dining during the early 20th century. It’s now full of water, so this is the closest I will get to experiencing the luxurious celebrations of Joplin’s underground. Fun fact: this painting glows in the dark!
Then, off on another motorcycle ride down America’s Main Street! This is a special bike, though, because its wheels are two sixes (66), which made the ride a little wonky. But I love the green color of the 66 Motorcycle by Jean-Marc Navello from France.
I hopped off the bike and made my way to the next painting, by Ruben Poncia from The Netherlands: ‘Get Your Kicks’ Sheet Music. I plinked away on the piano, strummed the guitar, banged on the drums, and stood on top of the stand-up bass while I jammed to Bobby Troup’s “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66.” The sheet music under my feet sure was helpful during my one-woman show!
The next image took a solemn turn as I paid my respects to The First Travelers by Canaco Matsumoto from Japan. Against the background of Joplin’s Grand Falls, I joined an indigenous mother and child, honoring the lives lost on the Trail of Tears march into neighboring Oklahoma and Kansas.
Slot car racing was on the docket next, and I raced my little metal cars down the Route 66 Racetrack by Germany’s Melina Berg. I pretended I was racing around the MO-KAN Dragway just outside of Joplin. Did I win? Yes! Did I cheat and bash up my competitors? Who knows….
Lastly, I had an up close and personal experience with one of America’s favorite cryptids – the Jackalope – thanks to Tracy Lee Stum, USA. She saddled up the giant bunny and gave me a waving stars and stripes Route 66 flag, so I hopped on and rode that Jackalope right over 100 years of the Mother Road. Yee haw!
The best part of all this is that I can experience it all over and over again, because the paintings are made with exterior house paint and sealed. The images from 2024 still look pretty good and they all will be around for quite a while.
In 2026, twenty more artists from around the globe will create images along Joplin’s Route 66 to celebrate the Mother Road’s 100th
birthday. When the entire project is completed, there will be 33 three-dimensional pieces of art, Joplin’s gift to the community, travelers from all around the world, and “America’s Main Street.”
