The American Giants Museum in Atlanta will officially open Friday

Nearly a year after the soft launch, Atlanta, Illinois is officially cutting the ribbon on the American Giants Museum with a weekend-long grand opening.

Starting Friday, staff will showcase the latest addition to the museum’s collection dating from the mid-20^th fiberglass giants of the century, created en masse by the International Fiberglass Company as advertisements for gas stations and auto shops along America’s growing interstate highway system.

Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs to Xenia Park (across the street from the museum, across Vine Street at 100 NE Arch St.) starting at 8:30 a.m. to watch the installation of a Texaco Big Friend.

The free museum, which resembles an old-fashioned gas station, will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. On Sunday, local restaurants will be open, Phat Daddy’s BBQ food truck will be parked at Arch and Vine streets and a bake sale and sweet treats will be held to support the Atlanta Christian Church.

The American Giants Museum is one of several Atlanta attractions designed to attract some of the 300,000 tourists who travel along Route 66 in Illinois each year to stop in the Logan County community.

In 2023, the Atlanta Coal Mining Company Exposition opened on the grounds of the JH Hawes Grain Elevator. And another giant is a popular stop for Route 66 and Atlas Obscura travelers: 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 Mother Road. The American Giants Museum (AGM) is part of a multi-layered tourism strategy for the town of 2,000, leading up to the Route 66 centennial in 2026.

But the museum would not have been possible without Joel Baker, its founder and one of the leading experts on the acquisition, identification and preservation of the “Silent Men.”

Baker will give a talk at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the AGM, followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m.

Baker is also scheduled to be the keynote speaker at this year’s Route 66 Miles of Possibility conference. The convention will take place from October 31 to November 31. November 3, 2024 in Edwardsville, Illinois.