Nearly a year after the soft launch, Atlanta, Illinois officially cuts the ribbon on the American Giants Museum with a weekend-long grand opening.
Beginning Friday, staff will introduce the latest addition to the museum’s collection of mid-20th century fiberglass giants, created en masse by International Fiberglass Company as advertisements for filling stations and automotive shops along America's fast-growing interstate highway system.
Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs to Xenia Park [across Vine Street from the museum at 100 NE Arch St.] beginning at 8:30 a.m. to watch as a Texaco Big Friend is installed.
The free museum, which resembles an old-fashioned filling station, will be open to the public 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. On Sunday, local restaurants will be open, plus Phat Daddy’s BBQ food truck will be parked at Arch and Vine Streets and there is a bake sale of sweet treats supporting Atlanta Christian Church.
The American Giants Museum is one of several Atlanta attractions designed to lure some of the 300,000 tourists annually traveling Route 66 in Illinois to stop in the Logan County community.
In 2023, the Atlanta Coal Mining Company exhibit opened on the grounds of the J.H. Hawes grain elevator. And a popular stop for Route 66 and Atlas Obscura road trippers is another giant: Paul Bunyan holding a hot dog that stands prominently in the center of town.
Atlanta aims to capitalize on what will surely be a banner year for the Mother Road. The American Giants Museum [AGM] is part of a layered tourism strategy for the town of 2,000 people, leading up to the Route 66 Centennial in 2026.
But the museum would not have been possible without Joel Baker, its founder and the leading expert on “muffler men” acquisition, identification and preservation.
Baker will give a talk at 12:30 p.m.Sunday at AGM, followed by a ribbon cutting ceremony at 2 p.m.
Baker also is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at this year’s Route 66 Miles of Possibility Conference. The convention takes place Oct. 31-Nov. 3, 2024 in Edwardsville, Illinois.
