RAGBRAI XLI Countdown – July 21-27, 2013
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RAGBRAI cost Cedar Rapids $25,000
(16 posts)
(14 voices)
Started 9 months, 1 week ago ago by gas gas
Latest reply from History Biker 9 months ago ago
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gas gas -
http://www.kwwl.com/story/19300855/ragbrai-left-cedar-rapids-25000-dollars-short
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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krucam -
Non story in my opinion. $25K short (initial, incomplet numbers at that) on a $400K budget, bringing in a big name band, campgrounds MILES from the downtown festivities…
Pork Belly, Brancel and others were in the far West side of town. I was more than fine with it given the pool and nearby church, etc. I wasn’t going downtown and certainly wasn’t alone in that thought. Too spread out….
The ride along the river and stop at Czech Village the next morning was very nice, however…
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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jwsknk -
after the Register meets all their expenses some of the left over goes to the overnight towns so that probably hasn’t been figured in yet. Plus, as someone said, that doesn’t include all the money people spent in businesses that afternoon/evening and next morning. And they are goung to cover it with hote/motel tax money, some of which came from RAGBRAI being there, would all those roomes had been filled on a Thursday night otherwise?
Some folks who let us shower in their home told us that area by the river that flooded a few years ago sat untouched until this spring, then after the route was announced,the city rushed in and cleaned it up and seeded it. An indirect cost of the ride but how would the image of the city been if we rode by blocks and blocks of flooded out houses?
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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bikegirl -
CR was the only town that me and some teammates went to the concert. Since Friday was a short day we thought staying up later wouldn’t affect our ride much the next day. We took a cab to the festivities and then back to our host site. We spent money in a local bar and enjoyed the concert.
I would have spent money at the concert if there had been food available. I walked around the concert area for a few minutes looking for a vendor, but never saw any where I was located. I didn’t want to get too far from my group so I didn’t go super far but I did hang out near the entrance/exit area that only had Kybos – no vendors.
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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hnschipper -
bikegirl: CR was the only town that me and some teammates went to the concert. Since Friday was a short day we thought staying up later wouldn’t affect our ride much the next day. We took a cab to the festivities and then back to our host site. We spent money in a local bar and enjoyed the concert.I would have spent money at the concert if there had been food available. I walked around the concert area for a few minutes looking for a vendor, but never saw any where I was located. I didn’t want to get too far from my group so I didn’t go super far but I did hang out near the entrance/exit area that only had Kybos – no vendors.
All the food vendors were on one of the bridges over the river. (As you faced the stage, it was the bridge on the left.)
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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sho531 -
Any news on the impact in Marshalltown where they had to cancel the concert when the storm came through?
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This reply was modified 9 months, 1 week ago by
sho531.
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This reply was modified 9 months, 1 week ago by sho531.
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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This reply was modified 9 months, 1 week ago by
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ScooterV10 -
Well our group made it into town only to be told the shuttles would run until 1 then when we arrived at 12:30 found shuttles had stopped running. To then be told by the cop that cabs were near impossible to get at night. We were with Brancel and way out of town. We spent money in bar but left with bad feelings for being stranded. A nice local working the event did take us home but bad planning on the town organizers part. You can’t put us miles out of town and expect us to all come in and party, then strand the ones that do….
Team Pedal Faster
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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jake d -
If you go to the CR website under 2012 Host Communities you’ll get a more detailed story with a slightly different spin. Doesn’t sound like anyone is complaining about their 25K investment.
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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Sandaltan -
sho531:
Any news on the impact in Marshalltown where they had to cancel the concert when the storm came through?Our first stop in Webster City was a busy sports bar where we struck up a conversation with a guy who was an insurance agent only in town because his company had insured the concert. I had never considered this but it sure makes sense. Maybe M’town had their event insured against a rain-out.
RIDE RGHT
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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Elizabeth Bock -
CR was the only town we went to the concert and it was good and we purchased food and beverages from the vendors. We were about four miles out in a host yard and walked or hitched down. On the way back home, we got on the wrong bus and the bus driver kindly took us to our yard after he dropped everyone else out at the campground. Really nice of him. I was pleasantly surprised at CR since I was not wild about riding into or staying in a fairly large city.
I hope Marshalltown came out OK. We were on a host yard outside of town, but the town was super friendly. Locals waved us off the road for an impromptu keg party. They also had beverages for the non-drinkers. The nicest people.
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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Gypsy Rose -
Sandaltan:Maybe M’town had their event insured against a rain-out.
RIDE RGHT
Insurance for outdoor events is pretty commonplace and I’d be willing to bet that all the big shows for RAGBRAI were insured. (Given the likelihood of rain on any given day, I’ll bet the insurance costs quite a bit, too.)
The ones who may have been more likely to take a beating were the smaller vendors. As I rode away from Marshalltown the morning after the storm I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to all the “leftovers.”
Best,
~ Kevin
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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Sandaltan -
Roger that Kevin. I bet it was a bad year for vendors until after Marshalltown. The extreme heat does not encourage riders to stop and eat and food vendors can’t make it on Gatorade and water alone. The extreme heat caused us and I imagine others to skip the entertainment in the evening or to retire early in the evening. I may have set a record for fewest beers per day of bicycling this year.
RIDE RIGHT
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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“Bicycle Bill” -
This is one of the big reasons why I will try to support the local people; the people who have the store in town the other 51 weeks of the year, the people who bought up a bunch of stuff to sell from their front yard on the side of the road, and the parent’s groups/school bands/churches/etc. trying to raise a few bucks for their programs instead of the commercial vendors like Pastafari, Tender Tom’s, or the rest of the camp followers that probably wouldn’t be able to even spell “IOWA” the rest of the year.
-”BB”-
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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jake d -
“Bicycle Bill”: This is one of the big reasons why I will try to support the local people; the people who have the store in town the other 51 weeks of the year, the people who bought up a bunch of stuff to sell from their front yard on the side of the road, and the parent’s groups/school bands/churches/etc. trying to raise a few bucks for their programs instead of the commercial vendors like Pastafari, Tender Tom’s, or the rest of the camp followers that probably wouldn’t be able to even spell “IOWA” the rest of the year.
-”BB”-Unfortunately BB, that’s one of the things that have changed over the years. A lot of the mom&pop stands have disappeared. Between the health dept. regulations and the county requiring a permit, most of the front yard stands are gone. I really miss stopping in some farm yard and having homemade lemonade under a big old maple tree.
The good news is that most of the major vendors that follow us out on the road are Iowa based. They do pay the property owners/municipalities for allowing them to set up, so that money stays local.
There were a lot of small towns that allowed outside vendors, and judging by the number of riders who were sticking around spending money, in what could have otherwise been a stop&go town, I’m guessing those towns made more money than if they had tried to do it by themselves.
Hopefully the local non-profits benefited by the larger crowds sticking around too.
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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giantron -
From what I understand Cedar Rapids underestimated the number of paying attendees for the concert, i.e. non-riders who would have had to bought a ticket to attend it. But as far as I could tell I can’t see how they could have fit 1,000 more people in that setup downtown for the concert. There just wasn’t room for it.
I hope they make out okay after all the income is tallied up though.
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago ago
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