Welcome back, RAGBRAI!

Congratulations to our friends at The Des Moines Register for 50 years of RAGBRAI, and for returning to the original route that includes Storm Lake for its 2023 run. It is serendipitous that the golden anniversary of the famed bicycle ride coincides with the 150th anniversary of The City Beautiful. We’re glad to welcome the world to our hometown on July 23 for an overnight stay, and to be reminded that indoor plumbing is a wonderful development in our time.

We were here in 1973, one of us in high school and not paying attention. The other, John Cullen, was on the scene shooting photos for the Storm Lake Register and Pilot Tribune. He caught up with Register columnists Donald Kaul and John Karras as they parked their bikes by the lake with a few hardy friends. They were just hoping to indulge themselves in biking across this lovely state for a week and get paid for it. The parties developed organically in coming years until it attracted tens of thousands of riders and gawkers to the annual soiree.

Eventually Kaul got fired and Karras got old. They’re gone now. Kaul was inimitable. Chuck Offeburger drafted into their wake and led the merry band for many years, followed by Kyle Munson, whose column about Steve Gaul graces us today. We got a kick out of John Carlson riding RAGBRAI in the back of a pickup. Today Courtney Crowder is the color commentator with a heart for Iowa. The Register certainly has changed. We still depend on it for solid legislative and political coverage.

Iowa has changed. The theme has been consolidation — in agriculture, population centers, education, retail and industry. The small towns that make Iowa unique struggle mightily. Sioux City has no stockyards. The lights are on in downtown Des Moines at night unlike 50 years ago. Fort Dodge went from Democrat to Republican. A constant remains Iowa neighborliness which goes over the top during RAGBRAI. It is that spirit makes it worth living here, we remind ourselves in January and February when the legislature is in session.

Storm Lake has changed over the past 50 years in dramatic ways. People of color are now a majority. In 1973, Buena Vista College was flat on its back. Harold Walter Siebens had just come to its aid by building a fieldhouse. Hygrade was going strong and the Amalgamated Meatcutters were riding high. Turkeys were raised outdoors seasonally, and were slaughtered by migrants who camped in town. The population was half what it is now. There were twice as many farmers. The Cobblestone Inn rocked. Some things never change: The Villager and its onion rings.

Visitors will find a cosmopolitan little place now. Buena Vista is a university and is doing well. The lake is deeper and better than it was. It is a more interesting and entertaining community today because of our diversity and our attitude about it. Thanks to Nate Jensen, the Cobb will rock again — maybe by July. Storm Lake invests in itself, and it shows. We will be proud to show it off this summer as we celebrate 150 years. Let the beer slide begin.