(Jackson) Ragbrai is in its 52nd year and is the oldest, largest and longest recreational bicycle touring event in the world. This year the first stop is in Milford and the ride will cross the border into MN for the first time ever when it stops at Brown Park in Jackson County. Ryan Krosch, who is the Jackson County Administrator, says they are looking forward to hosting the riders.
“Yeah, very exciting. We were contacted about April from RAGBRAI to see if we were interested in having them travel through and use one of our parks as one of their stops and yeah, we’re told to plan for up to 20,000 people which blow my mind. That’s more than twice our county’s population. So yeah, it’s a large event that’s been going on for 52 years.”
Krosch says it’s a great opportunity to showcase what Jackson county has to offer…
“The stops they do in communities involves food vendors, beverage vendors, that type of thing, so we’re going to have that available down at the park. I believe we’ve got over 20 vendors lined up for that. The bikes will be coming in on State Highway 86 and traveling down County Road 4 to Brown Park South.”
The event on Monday is open to the public but there is no parking available at Brown Park. Krosch encourages people to use the free shuttle that will run from the Jackson County Central High school parking lot to get to and from the park. The shuttle will run for the entire event from 9 to 3.
