Tipton RAGBRAI Finances

Thu July 10 2008
Posted Jul 10, 2008
6,596

by Krista Clark · July 10, 2008 A lot of people, apparently, are won-dering if the city of Tipton will be mak-ing money from the RAGBRAI riders who all come to town July 25th. The answer is a firm “no,” according to Travis Alden, the city’s community development director, and Don Young, treasurer and budget committee chairman of Roll Out the Red Carpet, Inc., the non-profit corporation that is running all the RAGBRAI activities in Tipton July 25th. “This isn’t the city of Tipton putting on this event,” said Alden, who is one of the executive co-chairs the commu-nity’s RAGBRAI committee, “It's Roll Out the Red Carpet, Inc.” Everything that’s being done to bring RAGBRAI to Tipton in late July is for the benefit of the community, specifi-cally local groups and businesses, who should do well when 20,000 riders and those supporting them come to Tipton. “This will be great exposure for Tip-ton, it’s something that you just can’t buy,” Alden added. In order for RAGBRAI to come to Tip-ton, the community, through the doz-ens of volunteers who have been work-ing long and hard for the last few months, hundreds of tasks have al-ready been performed. It’s all required by RAGBRAI, the ac-ronym for the Des Moines Register’s Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, Alden said. Young, with the help of about a dozen committee chairs, put together a fairly conservative budget for the Tipton organization, a blueprint for the local RAGBRAI corporation to follow to make ends meet for what’s likely to be one of the biggest events in Tipton’s history. As of the end of June, Young said, Roll Out the Red Carpet, Inc. antici-pates $106,000 in revenue when RAGBRAI comes to town, with ex-penses totaling just about $111,000. Those are conservative numbers, though, both Young and Alden empha-size, and if things go as planned, the corporation should end up in the black. If the weather cooperates and people are having a good time, it’s expected that Roll Out the Red Carpet, Inc. will make money, which means the hun-dreds of volunteers who will be giving of their time July 25th will be compen-sated for their work. But it all depends on how things go that day, Alden and Young said. And there’s no way to predict that until the day and evening are over. The biggest expense that the organi-zation has for the 25th will be the beer garden, which will be an enclosed area on 5th Street, between Meridian and Cedar and on Cedar street, between 4th and 5th streets. Adding up the cost of beverages, la-bor and many other items, the total cost is just over $31,000. The next biggest expense is for law enforcement. Thirty or more individuals are being hired to work in town that day, to make sure everything runs smoothly and en-sure that our laws are obeyed. But that extra law enforcement, much of it overtime hours, doesn’t come cheap. It’s expected to cost in excess of $21,000. Other big expenses are for providing needed items at campgrounds—the biggest in the Tipton City Park and at the Fairgrounds. That budget is over $15,000. The entertainment for the evening also doesn’t come cheap, costing the non-profit over $15,000, too. But what’s in the lineup should be popular and Alden and others expect the thou-sands in the crowd to be pleased with what they’ll hear and see. But before the main stage acts begin, there will be a community stage, lo-cated on the south side of the court-house, where a number of local indi-viduals and groups will perform. The opening act on the main stage, which will run from 4 to 6 p.m., will be Super Size Seven. That stage will be at the corner of 5th and Cedar streets, It will be followed, from 6 to 9 p.m. by Swing Crew, an annual favorite of RAGBRAI riders, Alden said, that’s from Wisconsin. From 9 to 10 p.m. Chicago musical comedian Tim Cavanaugh will entertain the crowd. He’ll be followed, from 10 till closing time by Olds and the Mobiles, a popular local group. Other expenses for RAGBRAI day in-clude the 5 rented air-conditioned shuttle buses and a handicapped ac-cessible van which will make a dozen or so stops around Tipton, carrying any-one who wants to get anywhere that day. There’s a $2 fee to ride the shuttle buses all day. Most people who want to see what’s going on will want to ride the shuttles, Alden said, as cars won’t be able to get to many places downtown beginning early in the morning. There will be a driving route in and out of Tipton, but otherwise driving will be limited. Maps will show residents where driving will be allowed. The publicity budget is over $9,000 and there are numerous miscellaneous expenses. So how is all of this going to be paid for? Well, in lots of ways, say Alden and Young. They anticipate, at the very worst, that Roll Out the Red Carpet, Inc. will break even, which is what happened in Dyersville last year, which had the last night of RAGBRAI, just like Tipton this year. Revenues will come from sales in the beverage garden (anticipated at over $56,000), donations, fees from food and other vendors and from publicity and hospitality. In addition a fee of $2 per RAGBRAI rider should generate close to $10,000. Lots of local businesses have been very generous so far in supporting Roll Out the Red Carpet, Inc. These include Iowa Telecom, the big-gest sponsor, which has given $2,500 and will have its name on the main stage. A number of other businesses have donated $500 or more. They include Wal-Mart, Community State Bank and Bridge Bank, Casey’s, Roberta Stack-house of Ambrose and Boyd Realtors, and CDS. Tipton Structural Fabrication and Ar-rowquick, which is doing the work on the tiptonragbrai.com, the organiza-tion’s website, have both donated more than $500 in in-kind services. There will be 22 paying vendors at the courthouse square on the 25th. Of these 17 will be selling food and bever-ages, while the other 6 will have non-food items for sale. Of these, more than a dozen are groups from either Tipton or Cedar county. All the vendors had to pay a fee to set up their booth, done on a sliding scale, with Tipton vendors paying the least and those from out-of-county paying the most. The vendors will line Meridian street, from 4th to 5th, and be along 4th Street, from Cedar to Meridian. What if it rains? Will Roll Out the Red Carpet, Inc. possibly go in the hole? It’s not likely, Alden and Young said, because the non-profit has bought “rain insurance.” What that means is that, in Tipton’s case, if it rains a half an inch for the 4 hours from 8 until midnight, for $1,200, Roll Out the Red Carpet, Inc. will get $40—50,000 in insurance cov-erage. That’s what happened in Independ-ence during a recent RAGBRAI ride. Their non-profit collected $50,000 in insurance proceeds, but the riders still enjoyed themselves, drank a lot of beer, and the organization had a good profit from the event, Alden said. The 15,000 or so RAGBRAI riders coming to Tipton from New Liberty July 25th will ride into town on west 9th Street. They’ll be greeted there by a floral arch, created by florist and city coun-cilman Dean Anderson. Welcome to Tipton will greet them on the street and as they ride easterly through town on 9th, the north side of the street will be lined with American flags, while the south side will be deco-rated with colorful bicycles. Tipton Structural Fabrication is mak-ing a giant bicycle, which will sit on the courthouse lawn, Alden said. It is being made from materials left over from the city’s downtown streetscape project. When city officials and the Chamber of Commerce first learned that Tipton had been chosen as the last night stop for the 2008 RAGBRAI ride, they soon learned, too, that 800 volunteers would be needed to make the day a success. It’s expected that that goal will be met, too. Not all the volunteers will be working for Roll Out the Red Carpet, Inc., ei-ther. Many of these are the hundreds of people who will be helping their churches serve meals, or the other vendors that will be around town. Oth-ers will be working at the camp-grounds, or running the $5 per shower that will be available in a number of places. But more volunteers are still needed, many of them to help on the 5 shuttle buses that will be touring the commu-nity most of the 25th. The buses will be air-conditioned, so it won’t be a difficult job. One of the things those helping on the buses will do is point out places of interest in our community, things that make the peo-ple of Tipton proud of our little town. Although July 25th is a Friday and a normal working day for most, a num-ber of local employers are letting their staff take a paid day off to help with events here, Alden said. And, finally, Anita Northrup and the Tipton RAGBRAI housing committee are still looking for individuals or fami-lies that would be willing to host one or more people who want to pitch a tent in your yard or lay their sleeping bag down on your floor. Around 3,000 people asked for hous-ing in our community, most of them because they want to meet local people and/or just don’t like the noise and crowds of the main campgrounds. If you’re thinking about hosting one or more people, contact Northrup or Alden, they’ll be happy to help you team up with some of the RAGBRAI riders.