"Good Morning, Welcome to West Liberty!"
That was how I greeted the very first cyclists that I saw riding east on Third Street in Downtown West Liberty on Saturday morning. It was 4:30 a.m., and the streetlights were casting a soft glow on the brick street, and onto the people busy setting up tents and tables on the edge of the roadway, preparing to serve the 30,000 visitors that we knew were on the way. My alarm clock had gone off early that morning, too early, but as I rolled out of bed at 3 a.m., I was excited for the day ahead. Besides, it could be worse, I thought to myself, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, Chamber of Commerce Director, Charles Brooke, was already at the office, and likely hadn’t gotten any sleep that night!
“What?” The last cyclist in the group squeezed her brakes as she approached me.
“I just said good morning, and welcome to West Liberty!”
“Oh, wow! That’s very nice! Your town is beautiful!” Even in the low light, I could, see that in addition to her race jersey and sleek, aerodynamic helmet, she was also sporting a beaming smile.
“Yes, indeed!” I remarked, “and so are the people here! This community has the kindest, most wonderful people that I have ever met!”
“My husband and I will have to come back to explore more,” she said, now coming to a complete stop.
“You are welcome anytime, but in September we have a children’s festival put on by Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre, followed by a Latino Fiesta that afternoon and evening, it is so much fun, and it will really show you what West Liberty has to offer!”
“We’ll be there!”
I gave the cyclist my business card, and told her to call or email with any questions, then wished her a safe ride as she rode off to complete her week long journey.
That was my first greeting of the morning. By the time I headed home at 12:30 p.m., I must have welcomed 10,000 people to West Liberty, and as I volunteered at the Rotary tent, I must have had 500 conversations much like that first one. I wasn’t surprised that our visitors liked West Liberty, but I was surprised to hear people say that they did not feel welcomed as they stopped through in some of the other communities on the route. Thankfully, West Liberty is nothing if not welcoming. Here are some of the adjectives I heard used by RAGBRAI participants to describe West Liberty: welcoming, beautiful, picturesque, friendly, historic, family friendly, and perhaps my favorite: community minded.
It was apparent how community minded West Liberty is, all one needed to do was take a look down Third Street. Rotary, Lions Club, Dreamcatchers, PTO, West Liberty Public Library, Fine Arts Boosters with help from Lugo’s Lemonade, West Liberty Fine Arts Council, and several of our churches were there, yes, fundraising for their organizations, of course, but also going above and beyond to welcome visitors to our community. To all of our service clubs, organizations, and local businesses, thank you for showing up. Thank you for going the extra mile to welcome guests to West Liberty, thank you for demonstrating the true caliber of West Libertarians.
In addition to the organizations and businesses that set up tents and stands, we had dozens of volunteers from the West Liberty Chamber of Commerce that were running back and forth all morning to make sure everything stayed on track, and that was just on the day of. As you can imagine, pulling off a successful RAGBRAI stop like was achieved on Saturday takes months of planning, and the West Liberty Chamber of Commerce pulled out all of the stops, under the leadership of Chamber COO Charles Brooke and Board Director Mary Larson, West Liberty’s RAGBRAI Co-Chairs. Thank you, Charles, for your tireless work in planning and organization. You did an amazing job keeping track of all of the moving pieces, and because of your leadership, West Liberty is shining brightly. Thank you, Mary, for all of your hard work, and for your experience, which provided valuable direction to the planning committee. Thank you also to the other members of the Chamber’s RAGBRAI and Events Committees, without whom Saturday would have been impossible.
The Chamber of Commerce along with their partner, the City of West Liberty, did an amazing job throughout the entire process of planning, coordinating, executing, and cleaning up. Well done!
Speaking of the City of West Liberty, thank you to our hard-working city employees that moved the proverbial mountain to make Saturday a success. Under City Manager Lee Geertz’s leadership, the logistics surrounding RAGBRAI on Saturday appeared to go flawlessly. From road closures to water stations, from road repair to post event cleanup, the City of West Liberty exceeded expectations, and played an invaluable role in Saturday’s success. I am surely not the only one to drive through downtown on Sunday morning to be shocked to see how clean and orderly everything was, like RAGBRAI never happened. Thank you also to our Mayor and City Council that not only provided the opportunity for our city employees to assist with the event, but also came out to volunteer. This was truly an “All hands on deck” event. Thank you.
Finally, thank you to our community members. Thank you for being understanding of road closures. Thank you for working to help clean up the community. Thank you for coming out to volunteer, or line the streets and wave. Thank you for so kindly welcoming our visitors. Thank you…for being you! It is easy to be kind to a friend or a family member, but the true test of an individual’s (or community’s) character is how they treat a stranger. (Or in this case, 30,000 strangers.) Thank you for showing your true character. I’m proud to be a West Libertarian, and you should be, too.
Ken Brooks,
Executive Director, WeLead
West Liberty Economic Area Development Corp.
www.weleadiowa.org