Below is the first entry from my wife, Mikki, an open letter about the upcoming International Route 66 Festival. She's been able to post to this blog since we started it, but today's the first time she felt compelled to write something, specifically about her frustration with the website for the festival. We want to support the festival with our attendance, we want to be a part of this big event, and we want to use the opportunity for our kids to learn about the highway and its significance to American history. But trying to find out what's happening when, what our options are for any given day or hour, has been frustrating.

Note what she says about awareness of the festival -- none of the friends she mentioned it to knew it was happening.

Back a few months ago, an organization I belong to sought out a representative from the festival to come and talk to us about it and about opportunities to participate and volunteer. I'm told it was a challenge just to get phone calls returned. The lady who came to speak to us had a presentation about the history of the road, but the festival details were sketchy, and she didn't know anything about volunteer opportunities, nor was she prepared to take the names of potential volunteers.

I hope this thing is a success, for the sake of Tulsa's reputation. If it flops for lack of local participation, I expect that Tulsans will be scolded for not supporting the festival, but it seems to me that the blame will belong to the festival's organizers for failing to get the message out.