Springfield CVB / Discover Springfield

Convention and Visitors Bureaus are the standard institutional model for American city-level tourism promotion — typically funded through a combination of municipal allocations and hotel-tax revenue, charged with marketing the destination to potential visitors and supporting visitors during their stays. The Springfield CVB operates under this standard model with substantial scale appropriate to Springfield's role as one of southwest Missouri's major destinations.

The Discover Springfield consumer brand operates as the CVB's public-facing identity, used across the springfieldmo.org website, print materials, social media programming, and various other touchpoints. The brand emphasizes Springfield's distinctive identity attributes — Birthplace of Route 66, gateway to the Ozarks, headquarters of Bass Pro Shops, Wild Bill Hickok and the broader Old West heritage — in a unified marketing framework that captures the city's substantial range of visitor appeals.

The CVB's Route 66 specialization deserves particular note. Springfield's 'Birthplace of Route 66' identity is a substantial marketing asset that the CVB has developed and supported across years of programming. The combination of historical commemoration (the Birthplace of Route 66 Mural, the visitor center exhibit), event programming (Route 66 themed events throughout the year), and the 2026 Centennial planning produces a substantial Route 66 tourism program that the CVB anchors and coordinates.

The Springfield CVB's downtown visitor center on East St. Louis Street is the city's primary in-person visitor information location. Open Monday-Friday 8am-5pm (with some seasonal weekend hours), the center provides comprehensive trip-planning resources, an excellent Route 66 exhibit, a stocked gift shop with maps, books, and souvenirs, and knowledgeable staff capable of answering detailed questions about Springfield-area attractions and the broader Missouri Route 66 alignment.

The center's exhibit on Route 66 — described in the earlier entry on the Route 66 Springfield Visitor Center — is one of the better small-museum Route 66 presentations along the Mother Road. The combination of the exhibit, the substantial gift shop, and the knowledgeable staff provides the kind of substantive Route 66 information resource that travelers genuinely benefit from. Many Mother Road travelers spend 30-60 minutes at the visitor center as their orientation to Springfield's Route 66 chapter.

The springfieldmo.org website complements the in-person resources with comprehensive digital trip-planning content. Detailed attraction guides, restaurant and lodging directories, seasonal event calendars, Route 66 trip-planning resources, downloadable maps, and various other digital resources support pre-arrival planning and during-stay reference. The website is genuinely well-organized and easier to navigate than many comparable city tourism websites.

The downtown visitor center is open Monday-Friday 8am-5pm with seasonal weekend hours that expand in summer and contract in winter. Admission is completely free. Travelers can drop in without appointments; phone and email contact accommodates pre-arrival questions. The staff's Route 66 expertise is substantial — both general Mother Road knowledge and Springfield-specific details that travelers benefit from for trip planning.

The 2026 Route 66 Centennial year brings expanded CVB programming. April 30, 2026 marks exactly 100 years since the Route 66 designation telegram was sent from Springfield — the city is hosting substantial Centennial commemoration events, expanded exhibit programming at the visitor center and the History Museum on the Square, special Route 66 themed events throughout the year, and various other 2026-specific programming. The CVB coordinates much of this programming and serves as the primary information source for travelers planning Centennial visits.

For Route 66 travelers, the natural pattern is to begin trip planning with the springfieldmo.org website before arrival, stop at the downtown visitor center on the first morning in Springfield for orientation and any final trip-planning conversations with staff, and use the CVB as the reference point throughout the stay for event calendars and any additional information needs. The CVB's substantive support distinguishes Springfield's visitor experience from less-developed destinations.