Greenfield council OKs RAGBRAI route through town

The RAGBRAI route became official Monday, July 1, including what route bicyclists and their support vehicles will take through Greenfield when they visit July 23.

Planners for the event locally presented the Greenfield part of the route to the city council during their Tuesday, June 25 meeting.

Riders will approach the middle part of Greenfield via SW 2nd and S 1st Streets after riders come into town on Highway 92.

“Originally, it was supposed to come in on the west side of the square from Iowa Street. After the tornado, people are going to want to see [the damage]. Putting them through it first, before they come up for the festivities, would be good, otherwise they’re going to try to get to it on their own. We wanted to avoid that,” said RAGBRAI committee chairperson Gina School. “We’re going to clean those streets well and want to put pictures of what it looked like before so they can [compare].”

The main festival area will remain on the public square, east toward Hotel Greenfield.

Riders will exit via 4th Street and SE Mills Street.

Support vehicles coming to Greenfield will enter town from the north and be directed to the Adair County Fairgrounds, and they will exit town via East Iowa Street and Orange Avenue.

The city council approved street closures for the day RAGBRAI is here. The main window of time riders will be in Greenfield is 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. At 2 p.m. that day, law enforcement will begin pushing riders on to the next step, which is Orient.

While there was a discussion about whether or not the ride should still come through Greenfield due to the tornado, local officials decided with RAGBRAI’s help that there could be a lot of positives from the ride coming through, so they decided to go ahead with it.

The Greenfield RAGBRAI committee changed from a “Cold Turkey” movie theme to “Greenfield Strong: Rising After the Storm.”

Plans also continue in Fontanelle and Orient, as RAGBRAI will visit each of those communities the same day.