Pass-through town Breda hopes RAGBRAI 2023 serves its grand(stand) purpose

Philip Joens, Des Moines Register
·2 min read
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BREDA — Breda plans to dedicate all of the funding it receives for serving as a pass-through town on RAGBRAI's 50th anniversary Day 2 route to replacing the lights at its circa-1946 high school baseball grandstand.

It's a relic of the days when just about every small town in Iowa had a team of its own, and Breda wants it in shape for its 150th anniversary celebration in 2027.

It's a costly proposition for a city of about 500: $300,000. And that's just the most immediate need at Memorial Park Grandstand, dedicated to soldiers lost in World War II and originally built with $20,000 from the raffle of a Ford car.

More: Where to find homemade pie along the RAGBRAI route

It also needs some rotting wooden beams replaced, and local RAGBRAI committee chair Leon Tiefenthaler has donated a new roof to be installed later.

Breda wants to raise money toward $300,000 needed to replace lights at a historic high school and Little League baseball field during RAGBRAI L.
Breda wants to raise money toward $300,000 needed to replace lights at a historic high school and Little League baseball field during RAGBRAI L.

As cyclist poured through town on Monday, Tiefenthaler was in awe of the size of the crowd, and hoping they would leave some money behind. The Breda Fire Department, American Legion and other groups were on hand selling beer and popcorn to help with the fundraising. There also was a raffle for a fleece blanket bearing the phrase "Born to Pedal, Breda, IA 2023."

"Everybody's been really generous," said Matt Whittrock, another member of the organizing committee.

More: Challenging first day for RAGBRAI riders gives way to pleasant Day 2

There's a long history of small Iowa towns fundraising during the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. And RAGBRAI has inspired miracles on occasion. In 2021, the tiny northwest Iowa crossroads of Lytton staged goat yoga sessions ― yoga with baby goats ― charming riders enough (along with a pie sale) to raise $15,000 toward a new firehouse.

That so impressed Ankeny's famously philanthropic Lauridsen family, which has an animal protein plant in Lytton, that they paid off the remaining $50,000 in debt on the project.

Tiefenthaler said Breda is trying to engage the younger people who still live there. He was among the organizers the last time RAGBRAI came through in 1994, and he said hosting the ride is a good way to get them engaged in the community before the sesquicentennial bash.

"You see so many communities that are little and pretty soon they're pretty well gone by the wayside," he said. "The RAGBRAI is a good way to get peole involved."

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Breda, Iowa uses RAGBRAI 2023 to raise funds for grandstand work