Route 66 Donut.

Route 66 Donut

A recurring breed of refueling station along Route 66 are its donut shops. Every city along the Mother Road seems to have one, usually right on Route 66, often inside a former gas station from the 1930s or '40s, which is promoted as if it somehow increases the donuts' deliciousness. The donut shop in Lincoln, Illinois -- Mel-O-Cream -- occupies an unexceptional, marketing-challenged modern building, so the city instead tapped into the spirit of Route 66 by erecting, in July 2025, an upright giant chocolate donut in the parking lot. It's big enough for people to sit inside the hole, and has the town name and a little Route 66 shield sign attached for photo-op veracity. Lincoln, no doubt, had the forethought to pay for an extra layer (or two) of lick-resistant brown donut paint.

Route 66 Donut

Mel-O-Cream Donuts

Address:: 201 N. Kickapoo St., Lincoln, IL
Directions:: Mel-O-Cream Donuts. North edge of downtown, on the west side of Old Route 66/Kickapoo St., across from Latham Park and just north of its intersection with Pekin St.

Nearby Offbeat Places

Phone Booth on a Roof, Lincoln, IL - < 1 mi.

Lincoln Watermelon Monument, Lincoln, IL - < 1 mi.

Tiny Church, Lincoln, IL - < 1 mi.

In the region:

Miller Park Artillery, Bloomington, IL - 29 mi.

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