Less than 3 weeks from now, on Thursday, July 26th, the city of Vinton will be temporarily transformed into a bicycle stop for thousands as riders on the 40th Annual RAGBRAI tour make their way to our downtown to rest and revive.

As the date and event draw nearer, your local RAGBRAI Committee has been working hard to ensure the people of Vinton and the riders of RAGBRAI have a mutually enjoyable and trouble-free day.

If you will be in town on the 26th, please continue to watch for a complete list of street closings beginning @ 5:00 A.M. on the 26th and remaining closed until 6:00 P.M. An immediate reminder for everyone now, is the official RAGBRAI route through Vinton. The riders will be taking: 218 S. into town and then East (left) on 4th St. to the courthouse for rest/entertainment/& refreshments. At roughly 3:30 P.M., the 10,000(+) riders will continue East on 4th St. to South (right) on 8th Ave and then out of town on 13th St. to County Home Road for their journey to Cedar Rapids.

The support vehicles for the RAGBRAI riders will be parked @ Tilford Elementary and a shuttle service is being planned for those groups. Many streets in Vinton will have temporary “No Parking” sections that day, please pay close attention to these changes, as they are being made to ensure the safety of our residents as well as the riders.

While downtown on the 26th, everyone will be able to experience food and refreshments from over 19 different vendors, some local and some from as far away as New Mexico! Live entertainment will be on 4th St. by Clingman Pharmacy all day, and a beverage garden will be located on the 1st Ave block between 4th & 5th St.

Your local RAGBRAI committee is in need of 10-12 adult volunteers to assist with flagging/directing traffic during the ride. (There will be a special meeting for these volunteers, as the date gets closer) If you and your organization or your friends would like to help and be a part of this event, please contact a committee member to commit your support.

Other times that the committee needs as many hands as possible are: Courthouse lawn @ 5:30 P.M. on Wed, the 25th ~ we will be setting up for the entire event at this time. The more hands we have to help, the more it eases this workload for everyone. We will need people again @ 5:00 A.M. on Thursday to help set up the roadblocks and to put the finishing touches on whatever may be left to prepare….A THIRD and FINAL round of volunteers will be needed AGAIN at the Courthouse at 4:30 P.M. on Thursday afternoon to help dismantle & reassemble to get us back to normal as quickly as possible. No sign up or registration is necessary, just join us!

One thing that your committee is asking of EVERY VINTON RESIDENT is to fly your American flags on the 26th….show your pride and be a part of forming that lasting visual image/memory of Vinton. Fly the flag!

It is important to us that we remind you that every volunteer is needed and valued. Without the constant & reliable support of our local community, events like this would not be possible in Vinton. We thank you in advance for your assistance in making this yet another great Vinton event!

Your Committee members are: Jeff Peterson, David Redlinger, Nathan Hesson, Andy Lent, Matt Salger, Duane Randall , Scott Hanson, and Tami Stark.