In January 2020, Fort Dodge was announced as an overnight host for the 48th annual RAGBRAI, but by April, the event had to be canceled.

Organizers hosted a route announcement party on Saturday to share details of the 2021 event, which includes a route of 426 miles and 11,481 feet of climb from July 25-31.

The seven-day ride will begin on July 25 in Le Mars and make its way east toward the Mississippi River. The overnight stop in Fort Dodge will be July 26.

On Saturday, RAGBRAI also announced its pass-through towns, something it doesn’t normally do until later in the spring. On their way from Sac City to Fort Dodge, riders will pass through Lytton, Rockwell City, Rinard, Somers, Roelyn and Moorland.

- Messenger file photo
Tim Burmeister, left, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, stretches out after arriving in Fort Dodge during RAGBRAI in July 2015. His support driver, Dan Romberg, left, shares a laugh.

When riders leave Fort Dodge on the morning of July 27 to their next overnight town — Iowa Falls — they will pass through Duncombe, Webster City, Blairsburg, Williams and Alden.

While the event is just under six months away, Fort Dodge Mayor Matt Bemrich said a planning committee is already hard at work to put together a spectacular and safe event. Typically, a RAGBRAI visit would bring at least 10,000 people, but the RAGBRAI organizers haven’t announced if they will limit the number of registrants this year.

Canceling the 2020 event back in April didn’t give the local planning crew any extra time to plan, Bemrich said — it just put everything on pause.

“Now we are trying to get reenergized and motivate people to get back out and get involved,” he said. “Right now, we don’t know what the sign up will look like but as RAGBRAI and the city of Fort Dodge collaborate moving forward, we’ll define what we think the attendance will be and we’ll make accommodations accordingly.”

Unlike the event originally planned for 2020, the RAGBRAI stop in Fort Dodge will not overlap with the Girls State Softball Tournament at Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex. This year, the state softball tournament will be held July 19-23.

Bemrich said the staggering of these events will help keep community members and visitors safe if the pandemic is still active.

Hosting RAGBRAI for an overnight stay has huge economic impacts for the host cities, bringing significant benefits to restaurants, retailers and other local establishments, in addition to intangible benefits of community pride and camaraderie. However, it isn’t likely to look like the same RAGBRAI of years past this time around, even as organizers try to bring some “normalcy” to the event, Bemrich said.

“I think it creates opportunity but it also puts a level of responsibility forward to us to make sure that it’s a responsible event that can be hosted and keep people safe and at the same time, give them an opportunity to have fun and experience the RAGBRAI that they all know from the past,” he said.

The Fort Dodge RAGBRAI planning committee is working hard to plan the event and is looking for volunteers and input from community members.

“We really want to make this as safe and enjoyable for all,” said Niki Conrad, a Webster County supervisor and executive chair for the planning committee. She asks that anyone interested in volunteering email her at niki.conrad@webstercountyia.org.

“Send me your name, contact information and what you would like to do,” she said. “We’ll try to match you up with an opportunity that best matches your interests and skill sets.”

This will be Fort Dodge’s sixth time hosting RAGBRAI. Only Atlantic, Council Bluffs, Glenwood and Sioux City have hosted RAGBRAI as the start city or an overnight stop more times — at seven times each.

Fort Dodge was an overnight stop during the very first RAGBRAI in 1973. It was also an overnight stop in 1987, 1995, 2004 and 2015.

“I think we’ve done a good job for RAGBRAI in the past and we’ll continue to put together great events that not only create an opportunity for the rider, but also the community to go out and do fun things,” Bemrich said. “As mayor, I’ve gotten to travel all around the state and talk to different people and I often hear from former riders and current riders about the great time they had in Fort Dodge, and we want to continue to make that a reality for them now and in the future.”