Join us at DEED and the Fun Run in April and May

It's been pretty quiet here at Electric Route 66, but coming up soon are two (count 'em!) events that will likely be just the beginning of a very busy road-tripping season. If you are in the vicinity of Kingman, Arizona, we'd love to see there!

 

 

Drive Electric Earth Day

On April 29, Kingman will be hosting their second Drive Electric Earth Day event at the Powerhouse Visitor Center. Hosted by the Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation, EV owners will bring their cars for display, and to answer questions from the public about owning and driving electric. It looks like it will be a small gathering this year, but the Powerhouse is a busy place: in addition to the Arizona Route 66 Museum, visitor information and gift shops, the Route 66 EV Museum will be open to all for free.

 

The Powerhouse Visitor Center is Kingman's biggest Route 66 attraction.

Last year's Drive Electric Earth Day in Kingman had a great turnout for a first event.

If you have a plug-in vehicle and would like to participate, you can sign up at the Drive Electric Earth Day web site. It's completely free. And if you don't own an EV, you can come to find out what they are all about. The event is from 10am - 2pm at the Powerhouse Visitor Center, 120 W. Andy Devine Ave., Kingman, AZ.

Arizona Route 66 Fun Run, with EVA Bonus!

Coming up the following weekend, from May 5-7 is Arizona's biggest Route 66 event of the year, the Fun Run. We love to attend this event every year, meeting up with old friends and making new ones over 3 days, featuring a massive car cruise from Seligman to Topock, and an amazing car show in Kingman.

 

A party atmosphere fills Seligman as hundreds of cars prepare to cruise Route 66.

This year is the 34th Annual Fun Run, and the Electric Vehicle Association has teamed up with one of their fastest-growing chapters, the Scottsdale EVA, to bring a big EV presence to this year's event. Electric Vehicles will get their own special section of parking for the car show, and the Scottsdale EVA will be presenting its own set of 10 car show awards in addition to the 2 EV awards included among the Fun Run's 66 regular awards.

 

There is already a large variety of EVs signed up for the Fun Run, which should be a great showcase for a lot of folks who are unfamiliar with them. There are typically several hundred cars in the Fun Run each year, and many thousands of attendees at the Saturday car show in Kingman. This year's event is shaping up to be one of their largest ever. The history of EVs at the Fun Run is much shorter, from our sole participation in 2019 to a total of five plug-in cars participating in 2022.

Pulling in to Kingman during the Fun Run in 2019.

If you'd like to attend the car show, you need do nothing more than show up to downtown Kingman on Saturday, May 6. But the full event runs from Seligman all the way to Topock/Golden Shores near the California state line, and spans 3 days - Friday through Sunday! The entry fee for participation in the Fun Run gets you a great goodie bag of memorabilia and sponsor gifts, and goes to support the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. You'll need a couple of overnight stays to do the whole event, and rooms are already becoming scarce, so don't wait! Lodgings in the town of Seligman fill up a year in advance so many attendees stay in Kingman both nights, or stay overnight Friday in Williams or Flagstaff, and drive to Seligman for the car cruise start on Saturday morning. This year we will be bringing our Tesla - The Blue Spirit, as well as our Chevy Spark EV - Sparky Sparky Boom Car, which will participate in the car show on Saturday afternoon.

 

Sparky Sparky Boom Car made a test run to Kingman in April.

For full details on the Fun Run and to sign up to participate in the car cruise and car show, please visit the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona web site. If you are entering an EV, be sure to note the Electric Vehicle Association as your club affiliation! You can join the EVA and support their mission of EV education and promotion at their web site. You may select your EVA chapter upon joining, or join the Route 66 EVA chapter as we have done! We will be judging for some of the EV trophies on behalf of Electric Route 66 and the Route 66 EVA, which holds virtual monthly meetings via Zoom.

To join the EV contingent of the Fun Run, with special EV parking and unique awards, you will also need to sign up at the event page, which is totally free. We'd love to see you there, whether you drive an EV or not! And any fan of neat cars, whether classic or newer, will find a lot of great cars to admire at the Fun Run.