committees who worked six months to host an event that lasted less than 24 hours .
" We had all the right people in the right positions , who knew what the right things to do were ," he said . " Pick your category , whether it was EMA , law enforcement , marketing ... if any of the people wouldn ' t have been in that place , it could have drastically changed the trajectory of the event .
" It ' s a lot of coordination . The streets department had to work closely with law enforcement , who had to work extremely closely with not only RAGBRAI , but also EMA and the Iowa State Patrol . There are just so many moving parts , and you can ' t get any of those parts wrong ."
Roe heard so few complaints personally that " I could count them on one hand ." But there were challenges — namely , a hotel occupied plenty of the Bridge View Center area . But , upon further review , he said there would be possible changes whenever the ride comes through Ottumwa again .
" I think we probably would have , in retrospect , given a little bit more space between the sides of the road for the vendors . We packed some pretty tight in the main area on Church Street ," he said . " There was probably more room to put more people over in the new parking lot as opposed to both sides of the street ."
Still , that didn ' t take away from the business the event sparked , particularly in the downtown areas . The local option sales and service tax created increased $ 28,000 for July over what was estimated by the Iowa Department of Revenue , while hotel rooms were 89 % occupied , as opposed to just 53 % on the same date in 2023 . One hotel that didn ’ t sell out was the Cobblestone hotel , mostly likely because of its proximity to the main entertainment , Roe said .
" We ' re looking at about a $ 9,000 increase over the prior year ," he said .
Similarly , the Greater Ottumwa Park campground had its second-highest year in its history .
Of course , there always is secondguessing . There was a lack of vendors or water stations in War Memorial Park , where riders were entering through a tunnel off a trail . Roe said that was by design .
" We did think of that , and that was the model we used in 2016 ," Roe said . " The reason we didn ' t do it this year — and maybe it wasn ' t the best — was that people over at the park did basically no business and were extremely unhappy for being over there .
" Also , the largest team was in the park , and they paid a handsome vendor fee to have all-day vendors for their campsite . What we feared was that team , with its own vendor , stealing from anyone else that was over there ."
If history is a guide , RAGBRAI will return somewhere within a decade . The community hosted in 1984 , 2000 , 2009 and 2016 before this year . Roe has been on the advisory committee twice . Would he do it again ?
" I ' ll be blessed if someone asks me , but I guess only time will tell ," he said . " I look at one of my professional mentors , Tom Lazio , who had a very important role in 2016 . And he graciously said , ' I think I just want to let you guys take over and do it .'
" Maybe that ' ll be the role I take and just stand back and support it . Or if I ' m gracious enough to be asked to be a part of it , I would do it . I don ' t know . But we really showed the world — and there were several international riders — what Ottumwa has done and can do . It ' s just a nice sense of accomplishment ."
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I ’ VE SAID IT 100 TIMES ; WE HAVE THE BEST VOLUNTEER NETWORK I ’ VE EVER SEEN , AND ONE THING WE WERE ABLE TO DO WAS INTRODUCE WAPELLO COUNTY TO THE REST OF THE STATE AND THE COUNTRY .”
GOPIP Investor Directory 2024-25
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