RAGBRAI makes list of great party spots

Wed January 14 2009
Posted Jan 14, 2009
6,043

by Tom Perry tperry@dmreg.com A new book has placed The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa in the same league as Mardi Gras in New Orleans and the Kentucky Derby. RAGBRAI is “guaranteed to provide an extraordinarily wondrous week,” according to the book “Party Across America: 101 of the Greatest Festivals, Sporting Events, and Celebrations in the U.S.” (Adams Media, $12.95). “It was a no-brainer” author Michael Guerriero said of putting RAGBRAI on the list. A 32-year-old resident of Fort Collins, Colo., Guerriero said he has attended about 80 of the 101 events, including a party a few years ago in an overnight town for the ride. “I have a lot of friends here who go to RAGBRAI every year and wouldn’t miss it,” he said in a telephone interview. When he was laid off from a marketing job in late 2007, Guerriero collected his severance pay and headed out on a party-hopping road trip. Combined with similar trips that began a decade earlier, he covered 11,951 miles gathering the raw material for his guide. The bicycle ride is the only Iowa event listed. Other events in the region include the College Baseball World Series in Omaha, Neb.; Party Cove — “thousands of tethered boats form maritime mayhem” — in the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri; Freakfest —a huge pre-Halloween party — in Madison, Wis., and the Black Hills Motorcycle Rally at Sturgis, S.D. For more information about the book go to www.partyacrossamericabook.com.