HERE IT IS!
Owners Cindy and Tony Jaquez
The Jack Rabbit Trading Post is a convenience store and curio shop in Joseph City, Arizona. It was formerly a snake farm and became famous for a series of billboards that stretched from Missouri to Arizona, each bearing the silhouette of a jack rabbit featuring the distance from that sign to the trading post. In front of the store was another such billboard with “HERE IT IS” written underneath it. At the trading post, a large fiberglass jackrabbit can be mounted for picture taking and is considered a major Route 66 fixture.
In the 2006 film Cars, the trading post’s “HERE IT IS” signage is depicted with a Model T Ford in place of the jackrabbit and “Lizzie” (a 1923 Ford) as the store’s proprietor. Jack Rabbit Trading Post Cindy Jaquez talks about some of the challenges of keeping a Route 66 institution in the family for so many years, especially after being bypassed by the Interstate.
The Jack Rabbit Facebook Page
Highlights of my talk with Cindy include:
- Sandy’s earliest family memory of Route 66
- Thoughts on keeping the Jack Rabbit Trading Post in the family
- Founder Jim Taylor traveling with a convertible and large jackrabbit in the back seat that led to the branding of a Route 66 institution
- Different versions of the Jack Rabbit statue out front
- Glen Blansett, Sandy’s grandfather, who used to be an Arizona State Senator
- Changing times and changing customers who visit Jack Rabbit Trading Post today
- Most popular item sold at Jack Rabbit Trading Post
- How the popular, HERE IT IS slogan originated
- Backroom relics at the Jack Rabbit
- Portrayal of Jack Rabbit in CARS movie
- Is there such thing as too much Route 66?
In addition, I have my final talk with Mark Linder, who successful bicycled the entire length of Route 66 to honor his son, who died of childhood cancer at the age of 6. It’s not too late to make a single $10 donation to the ride right here.