Information for our RAGBRAI Volunteers

The countdown is on…only 10 days to RAGBRAI

We have been very busy prepping for the big day and we are excited and nervous. We are very thankful to have so many great friends willing to volunteer and spend your day at the Meadery. There is a lot of information we want to share with you at this point in time. We will likely have more for you as we get a little closer.

Let’s start with Tuesday: For those of you coming in to town early we look forward to seeing you. We will light up the fire and have some brats for dinner. You are welcome to camp if interested Tuesday and/or Wednesday night. We have a couple air mattresses as well. During the Day Tuesday we will be getting things into place like signs and tables.

Wednesday’s schedule:

If you are joining us all day we would appreciate you making it out by 9 AM if possible. If you can’t make it then no problem we will see you when you arrive.

We anticipate seeing riders as early as 10 AM but we think most will arrive between 12 and 3. This is a complete guess and we have no idea if we will see 20 people or 2,000.

We have 2 food trucks: The Veggie Thumper a Vegetarian/Vegan Truck from Des Moines and Kayella’s a taco truck from Montour. Please plan to support them for lunch 😊

Live Music includes: Marc Bailey (one of our favorite musicians) will play from approximately 10-1 and the Matt Woods will perform from 1-4. After that we can pull out the speaker trailer and play some tunes.

We will anticipate things wrapping up around 4-5 PM for the most part as RAGBRAI tries to keep the group moving.

You are welcome to stay as long as you like, stay if you want or head home but please drive safely if you do.

Volunteer Roles:

The following is a list of various roles we anticipate. We are happy to have people switch around through out the day so you have a chance to get a break and experience all the excitement.

1-2 people on ID station – In order to drink people must be 21. If it is at all questionable we will ID. Everyone drinking will get a wristband.

2-3 people on Money station – We will have 1 or 2 people doing cash only line and 1 on credit card. We will be selling drink tickets so servers do not have to handle money.

1-2 people on parking and directions – Help direct vehicle traffic and bicycle traffic in and around the site.

2-4 people on clean-up – Includes walking around checking on garbage cans, offering to take garbage from people and just helping to keep things looking beautiful.

8-10 Servers – We will be serving mead by the glass, keg beer and mead slushies. We will have a front crew handing drinks to customers and a back crew pouring.

1-2 Attention Getters – Spend some time at the end of the road grabbing the riders attention and directing them our way. We will have 4 signs leading up to our road and a giant haybale bee at the end.

2-3 Runners – We know we will need folks who are able to just help out how ever needed. Grab ice, get cups, relieve someone while they take a break, etc.

4-6 Buzzed Bee Ambassadors – We know you all will do this and we love you for it! We would like to have some people just walk the crowd, visit, tell our story, answer questions and just have an extra eye out for problems including drinking without a wristband.

Things we will provide:

As a volunteer we will have a tee-shirt for you. Wednesday we will have snack foods throughout the day in the Meadery tasting room for volunteers, so you can take a break in the AC. The tasting room will be closed to the public unless an emergency arises.

State Inspection/Enforcement:

There is a good possibility the State Alcohol Bureau inspectors or law enforcement will stop by during the day. We will have information at the Cashier table for them (just direct them to Michelle). Licenses will be posted there as well.

If you encounter someone without a wristband drinking, someone drinking alcohol not served by us or someone that is being disruptive to the event locate Wayne to address the situation. We certainly hope that we will not have any problems, but we know that is a possibility.

We know how tempting it will be to partake in the festivities during the day and we just ask that you be responsible as a representative of our business. Once the day is done we invite you all to kick back, relax and enjoy.

Getting to us on Wednesday:

Access may be limited due to the riders traveling Hart Avenue/S62 so you may have to take some gravel. The bridge on F17 coming out of Newton is closed so if you are coming from that direction be prepared. If you need direction help let us know.   

What else…..

I am sure there is more and we will be sure to let you know. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to let us know. Please enter our cell phone numbers into your phone so you have them ready.

Michelle 641-751-5480

Wayne 515-291-8366 or 641-485-1725

Cheers!