Ames unveils RAGBRAI camping website as leaders ask for volunteer hosts

Teresa Kay Albertson, Ames Tribune
·4 min read

EDITOR'S NOTE: Discover Ames President and CEO Kevin Bourke's name was incorrectly spelled in a previous version of this story. A correction has been made.

Anticipation of record RAGBRAI numbers has local Ames officials placing a call for help.

The city is asking residents to open their homes to thousands of cyclists arriving Tuesday, July 25 for the 50th anniversary of the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.

Discover Ames President and CEO Kevin Bourke unveiled a RAGBRAI-specific web portal for the Ames City Council Tuesday night, a necessary tool which should make it easier to request overnight housing.

"Riders are going to that portal and submitting their requests for housing," Bourke said. "It's a matter of getting residents to get on to that site and they can actually pick and choose and communicate with potential riders before we make the match."

Event organizers are expecting record numbers for the next day's leg to Des Moines, which could cause a log-jam for riders looking for a place to stay.

The web portal can be found at the Discover Ames website.

Residents stepping up to host campers in their yard or riders in their homes will help take some of the pressure off camping sites designated around town. RAGBRAI hopes to host nearly 100,000 riders from Ames to Des Moines in an effort to break a single-day world record on July 26. Wednesday's route − which will also roll through Slater − is the week's shortest path of 50 miles. The anticipated record influx of people could cause some issues locally, which is why Discover Ames and its partners are pushing for more volunteers.

Council member Gloria Betcher said she's fielded concerns over not having enough areas to camp while Assistant City Manager Brian Phillips indicated Ames has exhausted much of their resources in advance of July's arrival.

Ames City Council member Gloria Betcher suggests concerns Ames will have enough camping space for RAGBRAI 2023.
Ames City Council member Gloria Betcher suggests concerns Ames will have enough camping space for RAGBRAI 2023.

"They will be using quite a few of the available large pieces of property that we can identify," Phillips said. "We've looked at pretty much every piece of park property that is reasonable distance from the route."

More: Concerts, camping and road closures: Planning begins for RAGBRAI 50 in Ames

More: Ames assessor staff can't keep up with influx of appeals

Members of RAGBRAI hold up the route signs for the 2023 RAGBRAI during the RAGBRAI route announcement party at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023.
Members of RAGBRAI hold up the route signs for the 2023 RAGBRAI during the RAGBRAI route announcement party at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023.

Phillips said camping areas at this point include the Tower Parking Lots, the Iowa State University Center's grass tailgating lots, Brookside Park, Stuart Smith Park and possibly Gateway Hills Park. River Valley Park has also been identified if overflow is needed, but it is less convenient to the route.

Council member Tim Gartin mentioned the Ames Middle School as a potential campground since the route will go directly by it.

Burk said in order for the school district to allow use of the property as a campground, background checks would be required for all visitors and alcohol would be strictly forbidden.

"We just can't manage those specific requests," Burk said.

However, RAGBRAI rolled into Indianola in 2019 for an overnight stay and thousands of campers were hosted by the community school properties.

More: Ames Pridefest returns in September for first celebration since 2020

"I think it went fine," former Indianola Community School District Superintendent Art Sathoff said.

The alcohol issue was easily managed by actively communicating with RAGBRAI riders that consumption or possession was restricted.

"But I don't recall that we actively policed it," Sathoff said. "It wasn't a problem for us."

Sathoff said he wasn't aware of any background checks, which wasn't too concerning since the campers weren't near kids or students.

In 2019, Indianola campers had access to the school gymnasiums and locker rooms for showers.

Sathoff said that many of the campers cleaned up well after themselves though some clean-up was required.

"It wasn't a negative experience at all and I don't recall any damage to the building or property," he said.

Riders enter onto the floor of Jack Trice Stadium at Iowa State University at the end of the route on July 24, in the overnight town of Ames, for RAGBRAI 2018.
Riders enter onto the floor of Jack Trice Stadium at Iowa State University at the end of the route on July 24, in the overnight town of Ames, for RAGBRAI 2018.

Gartin expressed disappointment over the school district's decision, saying he has camped on school property all over Iowa when on RAGBRAI.

Ames Community Schools Director of Communication Amy DeLashmutt said the school district is acting on the advice from attorneys.

"We have to adhere to state code that is placed before us as a school district, DeLashmutt said. "So after consulting with our attorneys, these were decisions and obligations that were handed down directly from them. I cannot speculate as to what Indianola did or did not do, but we are acting on the advice of our attorneys in any directives that we put forward to the RAGBRAI organizers."

The Iowa Department of Education did not respond to a request for comments on state regulations for schools used as campground sites.

More: A slice of heaven: Nevada gears up for second annual Pizza Pie Looza

Teresa Kay Albertson covers politics, crime, courts and local government in Ames and central Iowa for the Ames Tribune and Des Moines Register. Reach her on Twitter @TeresaAlberts11 and at talbertson@registermedia.com, 515-419-6098.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ames Council defines RAGBRAI routes and road closures