RAGBRAI 2012: Santa visits Springville

Springville – Santa Claus stopped by the RAGBRAI route today, and he brought a gift: “Just 14 more miles!”

He yelled and shook a cluster of jingle bells to the riders as they passed by Le Junque Shoppe. (You can tell it’s fancy by the name.)

“It’s not at all like the North Pole,” he said. “I’d have brought my reindeer down this year but it was too warm.”

The jolly old elf  (who may or may not disguise himself sometimes as the local man Merv Hudson) paused between photos with riders to talk up the event’s impact on tiny Springville.

“This is so great,” he said. “Our little town needed this, especially this year with the drought. It’s like a shot in the arm.”

Inside Le Junque Shoppe, three riders found old knickknacks to tie to their helmets. Jack “The Jackhammer” Ratzch of Bloomington, Ill., opted for a toy wooden mallet, while his brother-in-law Edward “Steady Eddy” Johnson of Sedona, Az., chose a bumblebee. Johnson’s daughter, “Bring It On” Holly Johnson, also of Sedona, had some trouble attaching a chicken-shaped wire basket full of eggs, but she figured it out with some help from her dad. (But not before she got her hair stuck on his bumblebee.)

They handed store owner Kaitlynn Baker a few bucks and pedaled down the road with their new bling.

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