The Storm Lake Times: Top Story

RAGBRAI: Storm Lake throws a party for 15,000+

Verdict: Rousing success

by jake kurtz

It took six months of extensive planning and preparation, but RAGBRAI XXXVIII in Storm Lake was a rousing success.

“It was fantastic,” said Patti Moore, co-chair of the event’s planning committee. “Everything went great. Amongst all of the hard work by everybody it was a lot of fun.”

The 442-mile, seven day event began in Sioux City on Saturday and ends this weekend in Dubuque. Sunday marked the sixth time the trek has passed through The City Beautiful (1973, 1975, 1978, 1987, 2001, 2010).

“It was amazing how many people were here,” said Storm Lake United leader Gary Lalone. “It seemed as though everyone had 20 people staying in their yard and they all had a good time.”

The bicycle odyssey brought over 15,000 riders and several thousand more stragglers and party goers. The financial impact on an overnight community is slotted at around $2 million, but financial estimates for Storm Lake’s event is not available yet.

City parks were a sea of camping tents. Storm Lake High School, middle school and Fareway parking areas were packed with RVs and resembled the lots around Jack Trice and Kinnick Stadium on a fall Saturday.

Every restaurant, bar, hotel and vendor booth in Storm Lake was seemingly at maximum capacity for the duration, with local business owners all having stories to tell.

Randy Harrington of Honey Kissed Pizza said Sunday evening was “nuts crazy” with solid customers from 4 p.m. until midnight when the beer garden closed down and he ran out of food.

“It was double the best day we’ve ever done in history,” Harrington said. His pizza place is 20 years old.

Tireless volunteer Donna Queen was selling “Catch a Tailwind” t-shirts past 10 p.m., but left at 3 a.m. for Varina where the Connections Mentoring Program was putting up a stand.

Rhonda Ringgenberg of Paxtons Jewelry said they had good business Sunday, jewelry being one of the products small enough for the riders to take along.

One customer brought in his old jewelry to sell, saying he needed to bail a friend out of jail. Rhonda said she couldn’t tell if he was one of the RAGBRAI participants.

Workers at the Witter Gallery booth were pleased at how their group effort payed off. A hog was donated by Jim Hultgren and processed free of charge by Tiefenthaler Meats in Holstein.

Norm’s Livestock provided the roaster while supporters donated pies which amounted to 600 slices. All the pie was gone by 7 p.m.

“We were the only ones selling pies downtown,” said Ron Stevenson of Witter Gallery. He reported that the rhubarb pie disappeared first.

“Downtown had a lot going on and people in and out of places constantly,” Moore said.

The brownie stand set up west of town for Brenda McVinua, the local woman who suffers with complications from her amputated right leg, was a “huge success,” according to Brenda.

She said her voice was a bit hoarse from telling the story of what happened to her leg “at least 1,000 times” to caring cyclists.

A unique service was Atlas Chiropractic, which offered chair massages and back adjustments for cyclists at its office on Lakeshore Drive across from a packed King’s Pointe Resort.

The downtown beer garden and entertainment, headed up by Buzz Paterson, had an estimated 6,000 people pass through its gates.

“The entertainment and stuff downtown was just outstanding,” Lalone said. “All I heard from people all over town, all day, was how impressed they were with the community and that they plan to come back.”

Storm Lake Public Safety and Buena Vista County Sheriff Dept. both reported that the festivities went without any serious incidents.

“RAGBRAI went smoothly. I was very plesaed with things,” said Police Chief Mark Prosser. “We had really good support and I don’t think it could’ve gone any better from a safety standpoint.”

Moore spoke with RAGBRAI officials after the Storm Lake stop and said all of them came away with favorable impressions of the visit.

“They heard a lot of positive things from riders,” she said. “It’s safe to say everyone was impressed. We exceeded a lot of expectations.”

Even more impressive was Storm Lake’s successful efffort with RAGBRAI considering the large celebration held just a few weeks prior.

“Not many communities can pull off what we did after the Star Spangled Spectacular,” Lalone said. “Our community couldn’t have looked better. The attention to detail by everyone in the city was outstanding.”

All involved in planning Storm Lake’s overnight stop also could not stress enough how important it was for community members and volunteers to welcome visitors and lend a hand.

“All of the volunteers in particular, all who donated their time, they were a big part in making this a spectacular event,” said City Manager Jim Patrick. “The organizing committees and chairs all did a great job.”

“We had such a great opportunity to show off Storm Lake and everyone hit it,” Lalone added. “People in this town stood up and got the job done. It’s hard to put a value on how much goodwill was shown this weekend.”

Lalone also thanked those who provided generous donations to help fund the event.

“Without that it would’ve been impossible for this to become what it was,” he said.

On Monday morning, the recovery process began for many locals. One question lingered.

When is the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa coming back to Storm Lake?

“Will we do it again? Absolutely,” Lalone said. “It will be a few years, but we will get the opportunity again after how well this went.

“If you didn’t have fun, you were not looking to have a good time.”