RAGBRAI 2012: A toast to the Czech Village

Fri, Jul 27, 2012 | by Michael Morain

Cedar Rapids — If RAGBRAI riders wanted a reason to celebrate this morning, there were plenty of good reasons. They could take their pick: perfect weather, a shorter ride ahead (just 42 miles) or, more impressive, the spectacular recovery of a city that four years ago had been submerged in muddy floodwater.

Unlike in most overnight towns, where riders are usually antsy to hit the road, they lingered awhile in the city’s historic Czech Village to sample the area’s Czech kolaches and pretty much anything made with beer.

Douglas Smith, the retail director at the newly relocated National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library, was selling a line of Czech-made spa products made with beer yeast and hops extracts. Beer shampoo? Check. Beer shower gel? Check. Beer bath salts? Check, check, Czech.

“The shampoo is wonderful,” Smith said. “I have very dry skin and my dermatologist cannot get over how much the stuff has helped.” He was thrilled with the turnout. “We gotta find a way to do this more often,” he said.

Under a tent nearby, other museum staffers were selling a concoction they called a Bohemian Breakfast Cocktail, made with 4 ounces of ginger beer, a bottle of (Belgian) Hoegaarden beer and a wedge of lime.

“It’s actually really refreshing,” Michael Metcalf of San Francisco said, adding a little flourish for the reporter’s benefit. “It’s like a nice Bohemian breeze.”

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4 Responses on “RAGBRAI 2012: A toast to the Czech Village”

John Neskudla

July 28, 2012 at 9:24 pm

Awesome to see the Czech village back and alive!!!!!

Janice Sitzes

July 29, 2012 at 7:49 am

Had a wonderful time in Czech Village. The people were welcoming and enthusiastic. I enjoyed trying a pear kolache and poppyseed “hanburger.” The museum was well worth the visit and a wonderful unexpected addition to our itinerary–the Mucha exhibit was excellent!!

Rick Admiraal

July 30, 2012 at 9:33 pm

The accordion band was a blast! You could feel the festive spirit in the air. Did anyone else try the kolaches at the Czech village bakery? Delicious!

Emmet Barta

August 6, 2012 at 1:47 pm

Loved to have the short stop over at Czech village, the Bakery was a grate fuel up for the long ride ahead, the hills we road into out of Czech village made the whole ride grate, I loved it, and will forever remember this stop.