Kris Blocker and Andy Bartlett, RAGBRAI and more, April 27, 2026

On our program today, we've got a couple of different things to talk about in particular, or leading the way, Raghbri, because we had another informational meeting last Thursday. Chris Blocker's back with us. Andy Bartlett joins us today. Thanks for coming in. Thanks for inviting us. Morning. So we have three months to go. Is that okay? Less than three. We're counting down. Counting down. Chris, let's start out. The informational meeting. This one, we knew the route because, again, a month earlier, we had to wait till the beginning of April until the Raghbri folks said, here's the route. So we know what it is. Chief talked about road closures, things like that. Obviously, there's going to be a lot more. That'll be coming out as far as those closures. Timing-wise, but the big thing is trying to work so that people can get out to go to work in the morning and then might have a little congestion coming back. They'll have to plan accordingly. So one day, but it's all about trying to do the timing and trying to, again, keep everybody as safe as you can. Right. Yeah. So, yeah, we talked about that. We weren't able to discuss that in the meeting before, so it was fun to give some new information. And we did talk about that route coming in out of Ogden on old Highway 30 to Mamie or on Mamie and then turned south at Story Street and then, of course, down at the end of Story Street. Well, that's where our big festivities will be set up. So people will be diverted along that way. Well, because we know that we've got camping going all over different places and things like that. And it's going to be a little busy. So do you need a lot of volunteers for this? I know the chief was talking about having volunteers man the intersections and things like that. So one of the biggest concerns, you know, even after our first community meeting was people who live south of Mamie and west of Story Street, how they could get in and out and around town that day. And, you know, Chief Webold is going to recruit all his own volunteers from the Citizens Police Academy to help man barricades. And so if there's not designated crossover points on the route that day, there'll be people stationed at barricades to let residents across Story or across Mamie to get to appointments or grocery store or wherever they need to go for the day. But yes, on my end, you know, for the entertainment, for transportation, for camping and vehicle check-in, information booths, sanitation, there is a plethora of volunteer opportunities to be had on July 21st helping out with Ragnberg. So are you starting to get that together? What's the best? How do we go ahead on the volunteer side? Yeah, so the other committee members on our Ragnberg Executive Committee have been coming to me meeting after meeting and saying, oh, now I need a few people for this or now I need a few people for that. So I'm taking all of those ideas and roles and we're starting to really define them into shifts and what they'll do and how long they'll do it. And then and we'll put that out, assign those roles as we get volunteers. But anybody interested right now on visit Boone County dot com under the Ragnberg portal, there is a volunteer interest form. And so they can put in their information, what area they might be interested in. Everybody's going to get a t-shirt. So they put in the t-shirt size and then it's a placeholder for them and then we'll be reaching out as we get closer to the ride and we're going to have volunteer information meetings. So anybody signed up to volunteer can come and learn more about what they're expected to do and how they can help. And so we'll be organized in that way. But right now, the more people that can sign up, the better. The big thing is show that you have an interest in doing this and what it might be. Yeah, Reg Bray tells us that don't hold your breath. Don't panic. They're going to sign up eventually. You know, it comes on awful slow. But as people will realize like, hey, this is really happening, you know, they start to sign up. And so I'll tell everybody right now, it's still going to happen and it won't, it is going to happen. So we need you to sign up. So yeah, rather than wait till the bitter end, let's start a little early to it. But again, the Reg Bray page on Visit Boone County, that is probably the easiest way to make contact and make, let your interests be known, what you'd like to do. And even for host hosting campers, because that's the other big thing you're looking for. A lot of Reg Bray riders are making contact and now we need some places to for them to go. Correct, Jim. Yeah, we talked a lot about that at our community meeting, but we do have a lot of Reg Bray riders that have filled out the application and are looking for somebody. And like we mentioned in the meeting, it's not necessarily opening up your basement. It's your backyard. Or can they use your restroom? Or if you are so kind, could they use your shower or sleep in a sleeping bag in the basement or whatever it is you're comfortable with doing, just fill out the application on Visit Boone County that you're willing to host riders. And we have a committee member that will then pair the riders with. So you'll get to, you'll get to have their contact information and you'll get to have those communications prior to July 21st to be able to talk about what, what that's going to look like. And I'm guessing these are, because we did have some people that were there that have already indicated they are hosting friends or groups that they know and have been, have some ties to. So there's already a number of people. There's a lot of number. Yeah, there is a lot of, a lot of people that have already opened their homes to Reg Bray riders that, yeah, they have, maybe they hosted in 2011 and they're coming back to, to revisit them or, or they're just friends of a friend. And so, yeah. So we have a lot of that going on. Correct. Work our way through. Well, yeah, there's a bunch yet to do. We just have a few more that we need to. And the other ones, because we had talked about in new phenomenon, I'm guessing, for, as we were talking about Reg Bray last time was having charters. And those are basically operators that I'm guessing riders can, go to them and say, take my stuff, move it and give me a location to be. That's correct. Yeah. And those are, those numbers have significantly increased since 2011. And so, so that's, yeah, that's been a lot of work for Dave Sherry to, to put that all together and to get all those charters placed. So, yeah, it's a new phenomenon. It's easier to do, isn't it? Well, we learned a lot from pandemic and everything else. I don't have to take care of my own camping stuff. Somebody will pick it all up and take it for me. It's like the all inclusive experience of Reg Bray. So get it done. And the other thing I know that they were talking about, because a lot of people keep asking, obviously we referred to the map. Yeah. And that's something that Reg Bray is really push. I mean, the folks from Reg Bray, when they come by about the map, they want to make sure you have a map and they take it basically before everybody leaves Runty Center, I'm sure, give them a map and they, so they know where they're going, where they're going to be, what's available. And it doesn't necessarily have to be all the vendors or everything. It could be other highlights in town where some of the churches are, things like that. Yeah, our map will have where even offsite vendor stuff. So if a church or community organization is serving a meal, that'll be there with what they're serving, where they're located and how much it costs. And so writers, you know, by day three, when they'll come in through Boone, they're, I keep hearing they want to, they want something other than food, truck food, you know, when they come into town and they love supporting local organizations and the communities. And so they'll seek these places out as they come. And even our, even the support drivers, you know, we just saw a note the other day that there's 2,500 support drivers coming in. That's a ride in itself parallel to Reg Bray. And so they'll all be rolling into town early in the day on July 21st, looking for places to eat and food to get. And so these maps are really important to locate community services, where they can get food, where the festival areas are, campgrounds, parking. And if there are community organizations that are still thinking about being involved and want to get on that, we have vendor applications on that Reg Bray website as well. So that's the easiest way to go there. Some, because some were asking questions about, you know, what's the cost and things like that? What can I put on there? Well, start there, start at the, at the page, Reg Bray page is a Boone counter. Yeah, yeah, all those applications and forms have been on there. And so fill those out. And then if you have additional questions after, after filling that out and taking care of that, then they can reach out. But yeah, definitely go to that page. There's a lot of information there. So BJ did pass along some of the, kind of filled out the entertainment portions. We know that. But the big area where activity is going to be will be from Hancock South to Kate Shelley on South Story. Correct. And then campers both sides. Yeah. And that was, that was the, actually the backbone to putting it down there was, uh, led by Reg Bray. You know, they liked that proximity and they wanted the Reg Bray writers really liked to be either within walking distance or close proximity, um, from their campsites. So having a majority of the campers and McCose and, um, obviously our big one at DMACC. Yeah. So we're, they're really close in proximity. So, uh, we'll have a lot of that activity going on down on that part of town. So people just saying it's going to be a busy time. Yeah. Yeah. And our next big step, we're putting together shuttle routes. So even though those campgrounds are really close proximity to that entertainment area, we want to be able to provide routes to other parts of town, you know, downtown to places where there might be, you know, close proximity to community meals that are being offered, uh, parking areas, campgrounds, and then back to the festival area. So our next big hurdle is our shuttle routes securing those and getting them set. And that's one thing too, because writers have bikes and they will be going all over town too. So, uh, just, it's going to be a busy time that it's 24 hours of organized chaos. The only one that has was a little nervous is, uh, Waylon Andrews doesn't know if he's going to have his traffic signals in that snedden and Hancock by then. So we'll see, uh, they're on order expected delivery. Early July, so we'll see. Uh, and again, but the work on Hancock, that should all be taken care of, uh, for the Daisy project and stuff. So that's going to be the way out of town folks. Yeah. Yeah. Chief really, um, put together a great plan, we think, and, um, he's worked hard to, to do that. It worked with the DOT as well as a rag bride team and, um, feel like they have a really good, good plan in and out. Okay. So we have that part. That's just brag, Brian, that we're talking about Chris. We got Friday nights on the green starting this week. So we start this week, change hats here for a second, right? Uh, May day. Yeah. We're excited to kick off the season. Yeah. So Friday night we'll have a little May baskets, um, that the kids will be able to put together. So, and some goodies that they'll be able to fill their May basket with, uh, Scott amusement is generous enough again to bring down a couple of rides. And so we'll have some free rides for all the kids, um, to be able to, to, um, do that Hawke and Jake will be on the, um, stage and then vision banks are, our big sponsor for the evening. So, so we're excited. That'll be good. But we know, uh, yeah, a lot of excitement. It's all for kids that, that May day one. It is, it is, you know, we try to, we try to gear a lot of it toward the kids. So we make it very family friendly, but also, you know, give the adults. Uh, some break where they can bring their kids down, feel safe. And they get to enjoy some music and entertainment while the kids play. Scott's going to bring in one of their food trailers. No, they're not going to be able to. Yeah. I think they're, um, struggling to get some help at this point. So that's early in the season. It is early for them. So, but they'll have the two rides. We do have other, uh, vendors that we will have food vendors. Yep. So we need Wonderland and best buds. I believe our, and then, um, letter eats by B will be there. And the outside scoop. So we'll have those four. So yeah, some options, a lot of things happening there too. And that kind of kicks it off. And then it's what every, uh, every Friday, how's, how's July working for it? Yeah. So we'll go June 5th and that, and we renamed all of our themes this year. So that's kind of fun. So this year we'll have Jeeps eats and beats. So look for a lot of Jeeps and there might be some ducks involved and maybe even a little Jeep bingo, um, members first will be our sponsor and kind of petty. I'll be on the stage for June, July will be the 10th. So we'll skip the 4th of July weekend. We'll go July 10th. We're doing Christmas in July. So you never know if you're going to see the center might be there and beard. Yeah. Um, in the summer. So, um, Ogden telephone sponsors that, um, month, uh, sons of Gladys Kravitz and we're going to have lots of kids activities, um, for July, August will be August 7th, celebrate America's birthday. We might have some cupcakes available, um, like 250 of them even, uh, farm progress sponsor and Kennedy station band will be on the, on the stage. And then we'll finish off with September 4th and our new theme this year is chili and cornhole challenge. So we're going to have a chili cookoff and cornhole challenge. DMACC will be our sponsor and Jordan beam will be on the stage. So we have a great schedule for this year. We're excited about some of our new themes and mixing some things up. So we've got a lot. That's, that's a busy busy. Well, in the way, the way the, the Friday's fall, it does, it creates a, how we're going to work this one and we're going to have good weather for all of them. Oh, yes. Let's cross our fingers only because you do have the farm progress show going. It could be a little crowded out there. That's correct. Seek some shelter. So Andy, uh, down at the ledges again, side note here again, uh, going to be a busy year down there. Yeah. A summer staff is almost all on board now and we're mowing and the bathrooms are all open and the campground filled the capacity this past weekend. So we're rocking and rolling. Uh, the canyon, we had to shut down this last weekend with the rain. We got late last week, but it looks like it's, it's down almost low enough to reopen. We didn't get too much rain last night and KWBG promised me this morning that we're pretty much done with the rain for the rest of today. So hopefully we, uh, we get that reopened here. It's the downpours that do it. It's the downpours that give you the problem. So, uh, and that was, yeah, that was an inch. Yeah. You know, it didn't do much for our drought conditions really. It ran off so fast, but that's been our big one so far. But yeah, this soaker, we can take that. No, we got a lot of stuff going on this summer too. And our friends groups put together quite a few events and things going on. Plus our seasonal naturalist, Makayla has started already. You know, their first big thing will be this weekend on Saturday at 10 o'clock. They're doing a literacy event, which they do every spring in May called Reading Ramble, where you can come out, do book swap, crafts for the kids, see our little free library. It's kind of a kickoff to little free library week. So it's all centered around that. And the read around gazebo that they have that was sponsored by Pratt Fenton trust. It was good to say that, yeah, the little library is out there. That's don't forget we've got one out at the largest people are constantly in that library to just the books just fly in and out. It's amazing how much they use it. So but Oak Park or Oakwood shelter is going to be renovated this year. It's already taken the sticks have been taken to the ground and it's just a chimney stand in there that's fenced off. So it's kind of weird to see, but it'll be rebuilt and done at the latest by the end of July. But this is a good contractor we have. And they're just you know, once they get their materials in, I'm sure they'll be rolling with reconstruction of that shelter. And you've been waiting a while for that. You and a lot of a lot of other people have been waiting a while for that to get that back up. And again, just age just just really took its toll on it. Yep, we've had a couple of things that repairs that are planned for the Fritz Henning shelter that will probably have that blocked off for a little while. Yeah, we've got a handful of reservations in right now in that Carl Fritz Henning shelter, but we're going to we're going to work around those to get some work done in there with some flashing around the chimney and some rotten beams inside of there that are there aesthetic. Anyways, they're not structural, so it'll be easy to swap those in and out. And that same contractor doing the Oakwoods project is doing that. OK, well, good. They'll zip in and out and have that taken care of the other big one. Of course, there is a plan to do some surfacing. Yeah, within the ledges and we just don't know exactly when and what. But we know that it is going to have an impact on its use. Yeah, we know what it is. You know, they're going to mill up and resurface every roadway through the entire park, plus all the parking lots. And so it'll be a big impact on visitation and how people can get in and where they can park and hike. And so we'll we'll be diligent about communication with that each week as we know more once the project gets started. But we know for now that it's going to happen. We know the campground will be closed for the entire month of August. And we'll work around that as much as we can. But there's there's some real need to have this project done as well. OK, easy way to follow along ledges, nature notes, something you do on a weekly basis have done all year, even when you're on vacation. Yep, yep, I try to get them preset. But and again, it just lets people know about the activities coming up, what the Friends of the Ledges are doing and keep some updated on different projects. So can they get signed up? But should people get signed up? What's the easy way to do? Yes, so the ledges, nature notes is just a weekly newsletter about park going happenings. You can go to the ledges website at iwooddnr.gov and find the ledges page. And there's a sidebar on the ledges page to sign up. You can email me at the park office or give me a call and share your email address and I can manually sign you up as well. But flyers around the park with QR codes to sign up. So there's a number of ways you can get that that newsletter and stay informed on what's going on at the park. It's pretty easy to get it once a week. You could take a look at it and see, find out when the Friends are meeting and show up for one of their meetings too. You could do that. We have a lot of other things too. Well, we'll keep our fingers crossed mother nature cooperates with goodness. Back to Rack Brie again, coming up on July 21st. And once again, as we said, the you the one of the first things you did was made a page on Visit Boone County and now it's getting used a lot more because we knew in the beginning was just we got the page there. We will be populating it and that's what you've been doing now. Right. And our social media. We also have a Boone Rack Brie 2026 Facebook and Instagram page. So yep, you can follow along those as well. OK. And the big thing really is to get signed up to be volunteer or at least make contact on volunteer information, what might be needed and where they would like to go and hosting those are the two primary things. I think right now you're looking for more community participation in that. So yeah, yeah, we won't turn down any new sponsors though, either. OK, you know, I know that and then he's still working on those to getting that the vendor side of things. And of course, people getting their vendor permits and things like that. They'll scare taking care of that. And again, that information is there. Yeah. Yeah. All about the map. Folks, that's a big one. So yeah. And we'll have more information on our social media coming up with that as well. OK. So you've been kind of doing like a month. Are we looking at expecting maybe a latter part of May having another one? Yeah. Another meeting. Most definitely. Yeah. Our committee meets again a week from today. OK. So at that meeting, we'll probably set another date for later in May to have another community meeting and keep people informed about what's going on. And the big thing people need to remember, too. Raghbri the Raghbri people, the organizers, they keep coming around. Where are you at? How's it going? Where do you need help? That's correct. In fact, they were just in last week with Public Safety and had a great team there talking about how we're going to keep everybody safe. So yeah, they're due back next week as well. So they do. They show their appearance and they've helped us a lot and kept us informed and keep keep giving us more tidbits. So if people are wondering about sponsoring or picking up a sponsorship, any any amount, Denny said, did work with anybody. But if you have a business or a group or somebody that would like to be a sponsor, contact Denny Hammond, right? Yeah, or that sponsorship applications also on visit Boone County. It's there available, too. Yeah. Yeah, folks. OK, busy. Got a lot of things going. Now, if Mother Nature cooperates, away we go. We got a lot, a lot of fun things happening, too. So we do appreciate you taking time coming in and again, let us know when the next community information meeting is going to be. And we'll pass that word along and let everybody know. Thanks for joining us. Thanks, Jim. Thanks, Jim.