Ottumwa, Iowa wants to be selected as an overnight stop on next year’s RAGBRAI, and they’re not being coy about asking for it:
Attention, RAGBRAI! Come on down! Ottumwa is ready to have you all stay here overnight. That’s the gist of a letter sent to the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa planners.
City officials discussed the action recently and council members learned of the request sent to Des Moines.
It’s a win-win situation, they said, giving a thumbs up to the thousands of bicycle riders who ride Iowa’s highways and byways every summer.
Ottumwa’s last venture as being an overnight stop on RAGBRAI’s week-long adventure was in 2000.
The deluge of bike riders brought prosperity to our city.
The bicycle invasion was good for our businesses and our economy. It was a jump start to Wapello County Trails.
It was good for all of us, too, as many of us pitched in to make Ottumwa look cleaner and brighter.
Next summer, it will be nine years since we’ve been a RAGBRAI host.
We heartily agree with those that signed the letter extending the invitation — Mayor Dale Uehling, Wapello County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jerry Parker, Ottumwa Area Chamber of Commerce Director Terry McNitt and Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Kathy Speas.
Please come our way this year, RAGBRAI, and stay overnight.
Read more from the Ottumwa Courier.
Congratulations to the Ottumwa city leaders — you’ve set a great example for the rest of Iowa: RAGBRAI is not to be feared, but embraced (we’re looking at you, the Iowa State Association of Counties, and especially Crawford County).
