Hillbilly Store hillbilly statue (relocated)

A waving, rotating-armed hillbilly figure that once advertised a Missouri roadside store now greets visitors at a former Route 66 trading post east of Rolla. Route 66 Times says the sign stood at the Hillbilly Store in the Hooker and Devil's Elbow area, and at the store's later site by the freeway, before going on display at the Mule Trading Post. Route 66 News reported in 2007 that the trading post's new owners had tracked down the old sign from the Hillbilly Store and brought it back.

The Mule Trading Post closed in 2021, according to Route 66 News. By January 2025 Ole Mule Axes n' Fun, an axe-throwing and entertainment venue, had opened in the building and kept both the mule sign and the waving hillbilly sign. Phelps County Focus reported in January 2025 that tourists, including visitors from Switzerland, had stopped to photograph the hillbilly and the mule sign. Visit Rolla's 2026 Route 66 centennial page lists the vintage waving-arm hillbilly sign among the trading post's landmarks.