The date for Homecoming is yet to be determined, but crowd favorite events such as the Parade of Lights, tailgate parties and a Lobo football game are anticipated events. The University Art Museum will feature an exhibition of Gus Foster's large-scale panoramas of Route 66 through Albuquerque. In the downstairs area of the museum, work from the permanent collection that pays homage to the great east-west road will be featured. The UNM General Library will feature a 90-minute video about Route 66 to be shown in the Willard Reading Room in Zimmerman Library on the three days in July. KNME, the Public Broadcasting Station jointly owned and operated by UNM and the Albuquerque Public Schools, received a grant from Phillips Petroleum to do a documentary about Route 66.
Plans are in the works to have that film shown on campus during the celebration.
Although UNM is still developing many of its plans to celebrate the 75th anniversary of historic Route 66, UNM has been involved in the life of the road long before it became known as Route 66. The University was established on site, now on Central Avenue back in 1889. The name of the road downtown was Railroad Ave., but up on the hill, the road didn't have a name. By 1892, a wagon, drawn by six horses, would bring the students up the dirt road and Ms. Parsons, who served as both the auditor and home economics teacher for the early University on the mesa, would collect the five-cent fare from its passengers. UNM and Route 66 both share a legacy firmly rooted in history.