Kris Blocker and Andy Bartlett, Co-Chairs for the Boone Overnight RAGBRAI Committee, July 10, 2026

On our program today, we're going to talk a little bit about Raghbri and actually getting very close to Raghbri itself being here. Our overnight stay is going to be on the 21st. Chris Blocker's here, Andy Bartlett. Okay, just a few months ago you came in and said, Raghbri is coming to me. And now you're going, Raghbri is going to be here. And I mean, are we getting close? We got, I know a lot of things have been going on. A lot of people keep asking, do we have enough volunteers? Do we have enough things set up? Do we have enough places for people to stay? Where are we at? What's happening? We are finalizing almost all of our stuff. So it's coming whether we want it to or not. That's right. And we're ready. So the only things left that we have to do are basically set up and we're in volunteer recruitment phase right now. So people can still get signed up for volunteer roles for the night before, the day of, and even the morning after to help put things back to normal here in Boone when the ride leaves town. So it's a big thing. Again, for this would be just go online, sign up for this and then be part of the crew that would show up to just help get everything ready and then tear everything down. Yeah. So the day of, there's so many different roles from selling ice to helping with sanitation to beverage tents and everything in between. So on VisitBooneCounty.com, we have the sign up genius link right now. You can check out those roles, see the descriptions of them, see the shifts that you could grab, you know, take multiple shifts during the day. If you want to try a couple different roles and be part of the mix with the event going on, I will be hosting a volunteer orientation meeting, you know, not just for the volunteers who've already signed up for anybody interested in what all the roles are about and how the day is going to work. That'll be this upcoming Tuesday evening, the 14th. Okay. At 6 o'clock at City Hall. Yep. Get your t-shirt, get your t-shirt when you show up. Okay. So yeah, come if you're not signed up. You have a volunteer shirt. Everybody gets a volunteer shirt for signing up. You put your size in on the form when you sign up for your role. But you know, when you come into the city hall that night, we can, we can let you know what roles are still available and get signed up that night. Yep. Just remember, it is air conditioned there. Yes. Yeah. So, but it is, again, even those that may not, or if they have a small group and might want to have a couple of different people helping to do different things, come in and at least find out what's, what's going on, what you would have to do. And again, a lot of it is just being, again, simple things that a lot of times you just don't think about. Yeah. You know, one of our biggest needs right now is checking in vehicles as they come, support vehicles, campers, RVs, buses, vans, all those that'll come in from Guthrie Center. We're routing them through the Boone Speedway. And then our volunteers there will check them in and direct them to the different campgrounds where they can stay the night here in Boone. So, you know, we don't have very many people signed up in that role right now. If we are able to make a profit on the event, on Raghbri come into town, we would look at making donations back to specific nonprofit groups or organizations. If they're able to fill those roles with some members of their groups. So, you know, if you do sign up and you're part of a group, put in the comment line and you sign up who you're affiliated with. And then when we go and review the budget and everything when things wrap up, we may be able to make some donations to those groups for, for support that they can give us at Raghbri. So that vehicle check-in is a, is a key one that we need to fill early in the morning on Tuesday the 21st. Actually, that one probably you'll go through that fairly soon because they show up early and then middle of the afternoon, most of them are already through. Yeah, that shift just a couple shifts. It starts at 6 a.m. and it'll be over by noon. So, just checking people and getting them directed to the right areas before the festival kicks off. So, Tuesday, remember that, that's the 14th, six in the evening city hall auditorium for volunteers or would be volunteers. Correct. You still have time to get signed up but you get your shirt there to do so and be part of the team. Hey, pull down and boom. Cool down. Yeah, there we go. Other things, Chris, so camping, obviously that was a big thing. Do we have a lot more people? Have they stepped up and say we'll have people? I think there's just a lot of people that were contacted by friends and say we're coming through. Can we stay? Sure. That's correct. And really, nobody really said, okay, well, yeah, we've already got people staying, you know, so. Right. We had 745 riders to place and to be honest with you, Jim, we got a report on Tuesday at our last reg ride meeting with the reg ride team and those have all been placed. So, kudos to everybody that came and wanted to participate and are going to host a rider. We're excited that, yeah, the hospitality just came through. So, we're excited and those are all placed and that role is completed. So, now we're just waiting for the day and wait for our 20,000 plus friends on bikes to show up. We'll be ready. Is the chief ready? I saw you had a route map and things out like that. The map in particular, that's been out and I think people now get a chance to see what we were hearing about in the beginning. Again, this was a whole new thing for Boone because we haven't done this for a while. For quite a few years, right. So, yep, so the maps are out. We in all of our information booths will have tear off maps and on one side it has our vendors and then other information where they can go get a find an ATM or first aid or and then on the backside has the camping location. So, where all the charters were placed and that information will all be provided on there. So, that will be an easy process for the volunteers to be able to look at that map, circle where they're going and then give them that tear off map to then send them on their way. So, tell me about the shuttle. It's because I know I've heard more about this. People are saying, well, there's going to be shuttles or you know, those that are in some charter groups to get them back and forth and things like that. So, we've got something set up for that. We do. Yeah, we have a couple different, well three different shuttle routes. So, the red, the black and the orange routes and they'll be the bigger routes are going to be on the east side of Story Street. We'll run from the festival area kind of down there near South Marshall and Kate Shelley. It'll turn around at the Speedway Park and Ride and then head back north and end up up at the middle school. So, I mean even if you aren't riding the ride near a resident here in Boone, you can jump on the shuttle and head down to the festival because it's going to run from noon to midnight and maybe even a little later depending on how long it takes to get the people back to campgrounds and things. So, if you feel like parking is going to be a challenge to get down to the festival area, jump on the shuttle in the afternoon and bring it down and then jump on it to head back home. And then on the west side of Story Street, the red route is a shorter route. It just runs through McCos parks coming out of E Free Church there at Kate Shelley and Story and then the orange route goes north from E Free Church through McCos and it loops all the way up through downtown with a stop near the Ericsson Public Library and then around through crossroads and by the football field and down division past Grace Church and back into McCos. So, yeah, jump on the shuttle if you want a free ride down to the festival. Makes it a little easier to get around if you're thinking about going down there doing something like that. I know the Chief has his plans on how to get people in and out of town. There are some of the streets or maybe in particular, I think a couple of the different blocks, they will have crossing points. I know you'll have people there to help get them through because once the crowd starts coming, there are, it's kind of like a parade every once in a while to get a gap. And that's what they will work with. But I think his closing down party said was going to be a little later. So, allow people that need to get out in the morning to be able to get out and then coming back in the afternoon evening, it should be a little easier getting back in, especially if you're in that south of maybe area down there, especially on the southwest side of town. Right. Right. We tried really hard to make sure that the commute home on Monday night was accommodated and then as well, leaving on Tuesday morning to get to work. Yeah. So, so we've really worked hard to try to not not not inconvenience too much for the patrons of Boone. I'm just saying if on the 21st, if you're going to run between Boone and Ogden, don't go on older. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So, South story will close at 7pm on Monday the night before. So, we can get set up in our festival area. That's Hancock Drive south to Hawkeye. And that'll close that night. The morning of the ride at 9am is when all the crossovers of Mamie and Story going south from Mamie are going to close. And then we'll have staffed barricades that people can still get through in those gaps that you were talking about. So, but by 6pm on the 21st, we'll have Mamie and South Story open back up all the way to Hancock to the festival area again. And then departing, of course, as we know, they're going to be going over to Purple Sned and Drive on Hancock. And then they go north and then out towards 17. So, yeah. Yeah. So, don't go, don't go, don't take that direction. Avoid those areas. On the next morning. Yeah. No. That would be to find a different way to go. So, again, otherwise, going pretty good. Again, all the activities in Benson, we knew we had the entertainment. Everything else was lined up early on. And you still have cities that are saying, how did you get here? Because you had people that had been involved before and just, they knew this was going to be an attraction. Yeah, exactly. And we actually did a poll to some of the Rackbrite writers to ask, what is a headliner that they really enjoy? And Hairball was the number one response. So, we knew that we really wanted to target that band. So, yeah, we were lucky to land them early on and have those conversations. And we're really excited. We know that we're going to attract a lot of other people coming into town for just a concert. So, and we're looking forward to accommodating them as well. So, I did want to ask on the volunteers information booths. I think a lot of people go for that right away because they'd like to meet all these people that are coming in. Yeah. We have those little mini Sukup grain bins. Trevor Jensen, our hospitality coordinator on our committee, has got those wrapped in banners already. We were doing that the other evening that say, cool down in Boone and some really neat stuff that he's got on there. And we're going to have all the writers sign the banners as they come through. So, yeah, you're on the front lines in those information booths. And there are still slots available to work in those. Okay. So, still go sign up. You find out what's available too. Absolutely. All right. So, in the beginning, one of the big things Denny Hammond and his group were doing was we need to secure some sponsorship for things. And again, it's not inexpensive to host. Right. Now, there's a lot of expenses that go, that go into hosting Reg Brigh, things that I'm sure a lot of people don't think of. But yeah, a lot of expenses. So, we do want to give a shout out to our sponsors. And we were blessed to have a great group of businesses come through and sponsor. So, first off to the city of Boone and DMACC, they were our two largest sponsors. And then Ogden Telephone, People's Bank, Alliant Energy, Pat Clement Chevrolet, Cedar Point Golf Course, Brown Electric, The Farm Progress Show, BTWI, Seven Oaks, Recreation, Vision Bank, H&R Block, Members First, United Bank of Iowa, Carol Renee, Dance & Tumbling, TNC, Hivee, Reddickers, Furniture, and the Fairway Boone Store. They were just so gracious to want to make sure that our Reg Brigh was well funded and that we were able to have a great time. Good. And there's still, I'm guessing, opportunities for any last minute ones. Absolutely. We'll never turn it away. And of course, we always want to, I mean, there's so many people to thank and we don't want to miss anybody. But public works in our police department, they've been just wonderful to work with and have never thrown up red flags. They've tried to accommodate so many different things. We want to have a great time and they've helped with that. I think Andy and I would definitely love to thank all of our committee members that have dedicated a lot of hours. Honestly, when this first started back January 24th, we met like every two, three weeks. And then for probably the last three months, we have ramped up and we have done every single week. So they've given a lot of time. Yeah, a lot of finishing touches. And now we're having prop parties in the evening to help Trevor do some painting. And we are going to have some of the coolest props that are going to be out there. So we're excited about what the writers are going to see. And hopefully even on a hot day, they're going to feel kind of cool. So yeah, and then to the citizens of Boone, right? We're thankful for their patience of all that they're going to endure in that 24-hour period. So we want to thank them for showing some Boone County and Iowa nice patience. Now, while it doesn't happen, like we said, the last time we overnighted was back in 2011. Yeah. And look at how different it is now. The dynamics of the ride are way different. You know, the age group that rides is much older than it was then. The introduction of charters as, you know, providing the rag bright experience almost like an all-inclusive experience has grown and huge popularity. It is. It's a hugely different animal that takes some different planning and organization, but we've had a great crew this year and we've really come together getting things ready. People, if they aren't aware of the logistics, there is the rag bright, we call it. It's not the ride itself, but the people that put it together. And they did come through. They did ride through earlier. Andy told us about that. They were pretty pleased with the way things were going. And they constantly meet with you. And not just you, but every city along the road. Right, right. And Tuesday was a wrap up meeting with them. And I will tell you that they, they praised our committee. We met for about an hour and probably 20 minutes and went through all the logistics. Everybody gave their updated report. And Matt Fepin, the director for right bright, he was extremely proud of our team and where we've come and how we've progressed and just feels like, you know, we hit, we have everything all ready to go and set and, and just bring on the day. Here we go. That's all we need. More volunteers. We need, you know, if you're interested in helping, please come and show up. We could use some of that help. And basically the volunteer meeting now, if they haven't gone online and again, go to visit Boone County. Yep. There's a rag bright tab they can click on. And then under the rag bright tab, uh, they'll find a volunteer and, and click on that and fill out the information and Andy will be thrilled. Yeah. Yeah. And then, or just show up. If you haven't done that, show up on Tuesday, uh, six o'clock in the evening, city hall auditorium. I imagine you can get a pretty good size crowd in. Yeah. Yeah. But really then they can ask questions. So what do I have to do if we're going to come out and help set things up? Uh, you know, do I, you know, will we be a group of, uh, two dozen and that'll make things go a lot faster? What do we, you know, things like that? Yeah. Even if the day of the ride, if you finally realize, you know, the night before, hey, my schedule's cleared up and I want to help, I'll be based out of E free church, like in the driveway there where the hub of the shuttles will be, we'll have volunteer parking available at E free. And so you can come find me there or look for any of our executive committee members. We'll probably all look like the ones running around like our heads are cut off, but, um, but find, find somebody and ask what, what can you help with? And we'll find a roll for you even on the day of. So Monday, the 20th, uh, again, seven o'clock in the evening, basically is when we closed down south story again between Hancock and Kate Shelley Hancock and Hawkeye Hawkeye. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Got to remember where we're at here. And, but so people will still be able to get around that area and stuff, but do plan accordingly. And I know the chief has said before, and he'll probably say again next week, uh, plan your route beforehand. And if you can avoid it, cause you know, I know there were some people were saying, well, you know, do we, you know, get over to the West side? How do we get to the courthouse? Well, that's easy. You just go all the way around and take 30 over and come in on, on Monday. There's ways. There are ways to do it. It's just, you got to plan ahead if you have to. Otherwise plan your schedule accordingly, get out and enjoy visiting with people. Yeah, we're going to have a day full of stuff. So, uh, we have entertainment starting at noon. Honestly, we have an auxiliary stage that'll be close there to the E free, um, church. And, uh, on that auxiliary stage will be orphan Annie starting at noon. I think she runs noon to two and then two 30 Jake and Hawk are very own here from Boone. Um, we'll be from two 30 to four 30. And then, uh, Jordan beam starts at five and runs from five to six 30. So we'll have entertainment and then rival five is actually opening before hairball. So they take the main stage at seven o'clock. So from seven, eight. Yeah, they're super excited and they are very good too. Honestly, I think they're, they're just as good as hairball. So I would encourage you to come and come and hear both of them. Again, that's all coming up on the 21st and getting in and out of those active that no charge, right? No charge. Yeah, we're going to have some prime parking maybe down in that area that if you wanted to be, uh, really close for parking, um, would cost you. But other than that, Jim, yep, it's the concerts are free. Come and enjoy, um, yeah, hospitality and these writers are so excited. If you watch our Facebook page, like we have people from all over commenting and they're super excited. They're ready to come and they're really ready to see Boone and, and just celebrate with us. The only thing I would do was wondering is, are the early writers going to get here and had they already made reservations for rail explorers? So because I figure there had to be a couple of them that we're going to try it. There'll be a lot of stuff like that in the area that's probably well attended. And you know, the campground at ledges already has a lot of reservations for a Tuesday night. People shadow in the ride. So yeah, there'll be a good impact on our community. And the big thing is too, if they, if it's not here, if they don't have time to do it, they can come back. Jim, that's what I promote, right? Like that's my job. We want them to come back. We want them to experience all the things that they can do in Boone. Um, and, and we would encourage them to come back and spend some more time here. All right. Once again, still, if you're interested in finding out more, being a part of what's going on or signing up to volunteer, go to the visit Boone County website, brag, brag tab, and then go to the volunteers. And even if you are kind of hesitant one way or another and just want to find out more about it, Andy's going to be busy doing the Canyon Road today. So we'll say that go Tuesday, next Tuesday night, six o'clock city hall auditorium. And he can answer your questions there and get you a shirt, t-shirt, you get your volunteer shirt. Get a free t-shirt. Yeah. And you know what? I'll always take phone calls. So if somebody has a question, you can call me at the office. And we'll have nights on the green tonight. And so I'll be around and be willing to ask any questions. Yep. Oh, you need to make it work. Obviously, the people that will be there, it'll help because it is a memorable event. As people come through, it's always about, they talk about who, the fun people they met and where they got help and whatever. So yeah. And I know even next week, I think what the U of I, they have their mobile training for the medical professionals. They're going to stop at the hospital and do some, here's how we deal with bike injuries. Oh, nice. So they'll be doing that. Again, that's something that Raghbri has them come out and do too. So that'll be going on. And we know that they have been gearing up. Everybody's been kind of just gearing up, getting ready. And I think even over at Ogden, they've talked about we'll be ready. So yeah, looking forward to it. Yeah. Once again, check it out online. Again, that's at Visiboon County. Just go to the Raghbri tab or show up on Tuesday evening. Once again, and find out being about a volunteer because we need a few more out there. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks, Jim. Thank you.