Viva, RAGBRAI! Charles City extends welcome to bicyclists spending the night
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By Lydia Gessner, Enterprise Media Inc.
As RAGBRAI riders made their way into Charles City Thursday, they were greeted with a picturesque view of the Cedar River and a rolling slope down into their final stop for the day.
Beyond the views that greeted them were the smiles and welcome of the community and a taste of the Iowa spirit for riders from all 50 states and 20 countries.
“Oh gosh you all are the nicest people in the whole world,” said Rebecca West of Lexington, South Carolina. “I told my friends yesterday everybody’s rolled out the red carpet every town we’ve gone into.”
“The ride is great but the town’s are the highlight,” Mary Richardson said. “Getting to meet so many friendly and welcoming people across the state of Iowa.”
Richardson is from the Jersey Shore and is riding for the first time with her brother, Stan Barndt from Philadelphia.
Albert Marban of Dallas, Texas, commented that Charles City specifically seems like a “tight-knit community” and his friend Danny Oberst said that they have felt welcome.
“Super friendly. Everyone, all the locals, generally seem to like having us here,” he said.
“I think this community and this committee are really in sync with one another,” RAGBRAI’s Marketing Director Anne Lawrie said on Thursday. “They have great communication, they have great ideas, they love their community, and I think more than anything, that’s what makes it a great stop for RAGBRAI riders is when the community pulls together, works together and they love to highlight and show off their town.
“I think that’s probably what Charles City has done the best is just really worked together as a community and made sure that this town is showcased for the riders when they come through.”
West said she loved the view and approach coming into downtown, and she and her husband enjoyed Tellurian Brewery as well.
Before riding RAGBRAI, which they heard about through a friend, West had never been to Iowa before.
“Our hope is that when riders come through, when we have riders from all 50 states and 20 countries, that we’re able to really put Iowa on the map globally,” Lawrie said.
Barndt and Richardson were looking forward to tubing in the Cedar River in the afternoon and to the evening concerts. Richardson has been sending their family videos of her brother dancing along the route to document their trip.
The sibling duo has been trying to buy snacks from local churches and support area fundraisers as much as they can along the route.
“We are fueling our way across the state with rhubarb pies and alcohol,” Barndt said with a laugh.
Marban and Oberst were enjoying some down time in the Central Park’s shade after Thursday’s 47.9-mile ride. Coming from Texas, one of their highlights has definitely been the cooler temperatures that have favored this week’s ride.
“Boy this weather has been fantastic,” Oberst said. “In Dallas this would be like a middle of October day.”
The early morning breeze faded out a bit with the early afternoon sun as riders began to make their way to the main campground in Lions Field Park.
At 2 p.m., when others were enjoying the festivities uptown, former RAGBRAI rider David Cooney planted a hackberry tree in the park to commemorate Muscatine’s Charles Harper, who had been active in RAGBRAI since its starting days. Harper died last year.
Thursday’s ride was Charlie Harper Day and Cooney decided it would be appropriate to plant the tree in his honor in the town that shares his first name.
Cooney has ridden the entirety of RAGBRAI 18 times in past years, and in the span of 12 of those years he has planted 100 trees all across Iowa.
He planted one at the golf course in Charles City in 2010, and the Muscatine native came out of retirement to plant one this year in Charles’s honor. He said he normally begins by contacting Parks and Recreation to see where they need a tree planted and then tries to buy the tree locally. This year’s came from Otto’s Oasis.
The idea stems from the fact that RAGBRAI riders leave behind a little trash in the communities that they visit, along with a lot of fun, Cooney said.
“So I thought I’d plant a thank-you tree.”
Lawrie said, “I think that with the hospitality of Iowans and the planning of these committees and the pride that everyone has in their towns, our hope is that we leave them a little bit better than we came to them.
“These riders are generous and spend and we hope that we can also as an organization follow suit and so that’s the hope. The hope is that there’s a lasting impression in our communities after we leave,” she said.
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