Heirloom sock monkey Cuba MO

This heirloom sock monkey (the long tail variety) rests up after a near miss at the recent Route 66 Treasure Sale at Munro House.

Labor Day weekend is the annual Route 66 Yard Sale that stretches along Route 66. Saturday brought out many sellers and buyers along the Route 66 in the Historic Uptown District. The event is billed as a Treasure Hunt. But one Cuba family came close to losing a local treasure.

Kim Pinnell and Tara Brewer came together to have a sale at the Historic Munro House on Route 66. Kim was browsing through Tara and her daughters’ box of stuffed animals and noticed an old sock monkey. When she mentioned it, Tara immediately retrieved it. It had been made by her grandmother Catherine Krekeler, who died in 2008 at the age of 97. She had made the monkey for Tara when she was a child, and her three girls had also played with the sock monkey. The heirloom sock monkey was definitely not meant for the sale.

Sock monkey hopes he receives a little more respect from his family in the future.

Reporters were soon on the scene after reports of Monkey Business in Historic Uptown Cuba. When Viva Cuba’s sock monkeys, now incased in the Hayes Shoe Store window, heard of the heirloom monkey’s experience, they just batted their lashes and smiled.

Reporters were soon on scene to interview the sock monkey.

Viva Cuba's Sock Monkeys watch the traffic along Route 66 from the Hayes Shoe Store window. They were pleased to hear of the rescue of one of their own and were glad to hear that sock monkeys have longevity on their side.

For history on the Sock Monkey, a form of Americana Folk Art go here.