OTTUMWA —
While RAGBRAI just ended and the announcement of next year’s overnight host cities is still months away, there are already rumblings that Ottumwa could be chosen.
“Everyone I’ve talked to since coming here has said nothing but very positive things about Ottumwa’s experience in 2009,” said Mark Eckman, director of the Ottumwa Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. “This one really shined in terms of how the community came together.”
Ottumwa was an overnight stop for RAGBRAI riders in 1984, 2000 and 2009.
In July, a packet is sent to every community in the state, which includes the application for the next year’s ride. For those communities who have hosted in the last four years, including Ottumwa, a green slip is included, stating RAGBRAI usually doesn’t go back to a community sooner than five years but that they’re welcome to submit an application.
“When I looked at that, it tells me the focus is going to be on other areas,” Eckman said. “But then I talked to Pam Kaupins [co-chairwoman of the Ottumwa RAGBRAI Advisory Board in 2009], who said she got a phone call from the state director of RAGBRAI [TJ Juskiewicz] ... who wanted to see something come from us.”
Since that phone call a couple weeks ago, Eckman has been working with CVB stakeholders and staff, all coming to the consensus to submit an application, which is due by Aug. 15.
While Eckman said he wishes he could have had the opportunity to get a feel for the 2009 RAGBRAI event in Ottumwa — he started in 2010 — he’s not a stranger to organizing bike rides.
After graduating from the University of Iowa, Eckman took a position as director of Villages of Van Buren, and within his first six months he organized an annual countywide bike ride, Bike Van Buren, modeled on the RAGBRAI concept.
“One of RAGBRAI’s founders, John Karras, had a heart attack that year and was not able to ride in RAGBRAI,” Eckman said. “We sent him an invite that if he was able, we would love to have him come down and ride. He turned it into a column in the Des Moines Register, and it generated a lot of interest in the bike ride. And he did come to the bike ride.”
Bike Van Buren is in its 26th year. Riders will cycle nearly 120 miles through 11 villages on Aug. 18 and 19.
The economic impact for a community is huge, Eckman said. All of Ottumwa’s approximately 500 hotel rooms would sell out, the campground would be filled and host families could welcome riders into their homes.
And the logistics align perfectly for the event, Eckman said, largely due to the 340-acre Ottumwa Park.
“Not every community has a park like Greater Ottumwa Park right in the middle of town,” Eckman said. “And the amenities are right there: The Beach Ottumwa, camping, Bridge View. Nothing is strung all over town.”
While “everything has a cost,” Eckman said in organizers in 2009 were able to raise all the money they needed, plus a little extra, to pay for everything.
“It was something that paid for itself — and then some — because of the money raised and brought in from food, vending and beverage sales,” Eckman said.
Local News
August 4, 2012
Ottumwa in talks to host RAGBRAI 2013
Overnight stay would create economic boost
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