Fanning 66 Outpost: Home of the Giant Red Rocking Chair

Route 66 Red Rocker

Where Is the Fanning 66 Outpost?

Address: 5957 Highway ZZ, Fanning, MO 65453 (near Cuba, Missouri)
Phone: (573) 885-1474
Website: fanning66outpost.com

Store Hours: Hours vary and have changed with ownership — verify current hours at fanning66outpost.com or call ahead. Previous hours were Monday through Saturday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, closed Sundays.

Rocking Chair: Viewable and photographable at any hour, day or night. The chair is lit after dark. No admission fee.

Admission: Free. The chair is on private property but visible and photographable from the parking lot without any charge.

[AFFILIATE LINK: Booking.com — lodging near Fanning and Cuba MO on Route 66]

Driving Context: From I-44, take Exit 203 and head east approximately 1 mile on Highway ZZ (old Route 66). The outpost and chair are on the right. Cuba, Missouri is approximately 4 miles east. Stanton and Meramec Caverns are approximately 30 miles east. The outpost is roughly 95 miles southwest of St. Louis and 115 miles northeast of Springfield on the Route 66 / I-44 corridor.

The History of the Fanning 66 Outpost and Red Rocker

From Hall to General Store (1950s–2007)

Fanning is not so much a town as a crossroads. In 1946, Route 66 travel writer Jack D. Rittenhouse noted it as having ‘one store and meeting hall’ and a population of about 59. The store is long gone, but the hall survived — it became the building that houses the Fanning 66 Outpost today. For decades the structure served the community in various capacities before Danny and Susan Sanazaro purchased the property in 2007 and refurbished it as a Route 66 general store.

Danny Sanazaro Builds the World’s Largest Rocking Chair (2008)

Danny Sanazaro’s challenge was the same one every small business on a bypassed Route 66 alignment faces: how do you get drivers on the interstate to take the exit? His solution was characteristically Route 66: build something so large and absurd that it becomes impossible to drive past without stopping. He commissioned the rocking chair in early 2008.

The chair was designed by John R. Bland and fabricated by welder Joe Medwick. On April 1, 2008 — April Fools’ Day — two cranes lifted the 27,500-pound steel structure and set it on its rockers in the parking lot. Medwick then welded the chair to its base. The whole operation took one day. Guinness certified the chair as the World’s Largest Rocking Chair: 42 feet 1 inch tall, 20 feet 3 inches wide, with 31.5-foot rockers weighing one ton each.

In its early years, the chair actually rocked — it had to, in order to qualify as a ‘rocking chair’ for Guinness certification rather than just a giant chair. But the sight of a 27,500-pound steel structure in motion was, by Sanazaro’s own account, terrifying. Tourists were apparently tempted to try flipping it. The chair was welded permanently to its base shortly after the record was certified. A beloved annual event called ‘Picture on Rocker Day’ used a hoist truck to lift visitors to the 20-foot-wide seat for photographs — this continued until insurance concerns ended it in 2015.

Losing the Record and the Red Makeover (2015)

Route 66 Red Rocker

Store Closure, New Ownership, and Current State

In August 2016, the Fanning 66 Outpost closed under the Sanazaros, citing economic conditions after nine years of operation. The property reopened under new ownership and now operates as a gourmet popcorn and fudge shop with Route 66 souvenirs. The chair remains, still lit at night, still 42 feet tall. The Fanning 66 Outpost website continues to operate and promotes the chair as the centerpiece of the property.

The chair has received the Best Off-Beat Attraction award from Rural Missouri magazine and appears in the Guinness Book of World Records’ hardback edition (for its record-holding period). A photograph of the chair is held in the Library of Congress Carol M. Highsmith Archive, taken in 2021 — a distinction that puts a Missouri rocking chair in the same photographic collection as the Lincoln Memorial.

What to Expect When You Visit

The Route 66 Red Rocker is visible from the highway before you take the exit — the red steel frame catches the eye from the interstate. Pulling into the parking lot, the chair’s scale becomes clear in relation to the store beside it: the seat of the chair is approximately 20 feet off the ground, well above the roofline of the building. You cannot sit in it or climb it — it is welded to its base and fenced — but the parking lot gives you full 360-degree access for photographs.

The Outpost shop sells gourmet popcorn in more than 80 flavors, house-made fudge, Route 66 merchandise, and various Ozarks and roadside-themed souvenirs. The stop is genuinely well-suited for a quick leg-stretch on a long drive: photograph the chair, buy some popcorn, and get back on the road in 15 to 20 minutes.

Honest caveats: the store’s hours have shifted with ownership changes — verify current hours before making the stop your primary destination. The chair itself is viewable at any hour and free, so the stop is always worthwhile regardless of whether the store is open. The community of Fanning has no other services — no gas, no restaurant — so plan fuel and food stops in Cuba (4 miles east) or another nearby town.

Best Time to Visit and Photography Tips

The Route 66 Red Rocker is worth photographing at multiple times of day. Morning and afternoon offer the best natural light depending on the chair’s orientation; after dark, the chair is lit and creates a striking neon-red glow against the rural Missouri sky that is different from and arguably better than the daytime view.

• The most effective photograph places a person in the frame for scale — without a human reference point, the chair’s 42-foot height doesn’t read on camera. Stand at the base of the rocker nearest to you and shoot from ground level with a wide-angle lens to capture the full chair height above the person.
• From across Highway ZZ: a longer lens shot from the road side captures the chair in its landscape context — the rolling Ozark hills, the small store beside it, and the old Route 66 alignment running past. This is the image that places the chair in its Route 66 narrative rather than isolating it as an abstract object.
• After dark, shoot from close range at the base of the chair using the LED lighting to illuminate the red frame from below. Include the star field or evening sky in the upper frame — the combination of the lit red chair against a dark sky is the shot that consistently performs best on social media for Route 66 stops.

Tips for Visiting the Fanning 66 Outpost

• The chair is free to photograph at any hour. If the store is closed, you can still stop, walk the parking lot, and photograph the chair — it is not gated.
• Verify store hours at fanning66outpost.com or by calling (573) 885-1474 before your visit if you plan to shop — hours have changed with ownership.
• The gourmet popcorn is worth buying for the drive — 80+ flavors including savory Ozarks options. The house-made fudge also travels well in the car.
• Fanning has no gas station or other services. Fill up in Cuba (4 miles east) or at the interstate before taking Exit 203.
• Bob’s Gasoline Alley — the most extensive Route 66 gasoline memorabilia collection in the Midwest — is 1.2 miles north of the outpost on Beamer Lane and worth combining with the rocker stop.
• The chair is photographed equally well from the highway before you exit — if the timing is tight, a drive-by at highway speed still delivers the visual.
• The stop is accessible from the parking lot for visitors using wheelchairs or mobility aids — the lot is paved and level.

2026 Route 66 Centennial Connection

2026 Route 66 Centennial Connection

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Fanning rocking chair still the World’s Largest?

No. The Fanning 66 Outpost’s rocking chair held the Guinness World Record for World’s Largest Rocking Chair from its construction in 2008 until August 25, 2015, when a 56.5-foot rocking chair in Casey, Illinois took the title. The Fanning chair — now called the Route 66 Red Rocker — is currently the largest rocking chair on Route 66, which remains a legitimate distinction on the highway that has the most roadside superlatives per mile in America.

Can I climb the rocking chair or sit in it?

No. For safety reasons, the chair is welded permanently to its base and visitors cannot climb or sit in it. In earlier years, the owners held an annual ‘Picture on Rocker Day’ where a hoist truck lifted visitors to the 20-foot-wide seat for photographs. Insurance concerns ended this practice in 2015. The chair can be photographed from all angles in the parking lot.

Why was the chair painted red?

The chair was originally painted black and white when first built in 2008. After losing the Guinness World Record to the Casey, Illinois chair in 2015, the Fanning chair was repainted bright red and rebranded as the Route 66 Red Rocker. The color change is generally credited with making the chair more visually striking and easier to spot from the highway.

Is there a fee to see the rocking chair?

No. The Route 66 Red Rocker is free to view and photograph at any time. The chair is on private property adjacent to the Fanning 66 Outpost store, but the parking lot is accessible and the chair can be photographed from any angle without charge. The store itself sells popcorn, fudge, and souvenirs, but visiting the store is optional.

Why did the chair have to rock to get the Guinness record?

Guinness requires that a structure qualifying for the ‘World’s Largest Rocking Chair’ record must function as an actual rocking chair — meaning it must be capable of rocking. The Fanning chair was engineered to rock when first built, and this capability was demonstrated for Guinness certification. Due to safety concerns about the motion of a 27,500-pound steel structure with tourists nearby, the chair was welded permanently to its base shortly after the record was certified.

Final Thoughts on the Fanning 66 Outpost

The Route 66 Red Rocker is exactly the kind of stop that makes Route 66 different from every other American road. Nobody built a 42-foot rocking chair because they had to — they built it because Route 66 has always rewarded the outrageously oversized, the defiantly quirky, and the genuinely amusing. Danny Sanazaro understood that instinctively, and the result has been photographed by hundreds of thousands of travelers, certified by Guinness, acquired by the Library of Congress archive, and repainted red without losing a step.

Nearby Route 66 Highlights

• CLOSED: Bob’s Gasoline Alley — 822 Beamer Lane, 1.2 miles north — the most extensive Route 66 gasoline memorabilia collection in the Midwest, with outdoor displays viewable at any time.