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Washington Evening Journal
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Tiny Trenton welcomes RAGBRAI
The small town showed off their ‘Iowa Nice’ as RAGBRAI made its way through
TRENTON — The little town of Trenton which only contains approximately 70 residents saw thousands of RAGBRAI riders wind their way around their park Friday as they neared the end of their Day Six ride.
“It was a pretty cool day in Trenton, for sure,” Trenton RAGBRAI volunteer Melanie Patton said. “It was pretty cool to see that many people come through our little town.”
Alongside many comments of gratitude, Patton says many asked how many people even live in Trenton. When they heard Trenton is home to less than 100 people, they were all the more impressed with all that they had to offer.
From frozen grapes, to many drinks, and lots of food, Trenton turned out to be a worthwhile stop for many tired riders on their way to Mt. Pleasant for the night, Friday, July 26.
“It’s just fun to see people pull together and you know do what it takes to get an event like this together,” Patton said.
It really was a whole community effort to make the day successful. Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church and Trenton United Methodist Church hopped right in to help prepare and serve food. Many families include the Rich, Anderson, and Lance families came together to provide drinks, land, and friendly smiles for the tired riders.
With the help of outside vendors like the Pineapple Whip Paradise truck and The Tipsy Traveler, no one went without during their stop in Trenton.
“It was really cool to meet people from all over the country and all over the world,” Patton shared.
Patton’s young neighbor Tanner held up a sign asking riders to tell him where they were from as they came into town and marked down 37 different states and seven countries as riders yelled out their answers passing by.
Kids like Tanner happily lent their hand in making it a great RAGBRAI ride-through stop as they sold water and Gatorade and even allowed the riders to enjoy their park which they are usually accustom to having all to themselves.
“It was a long day, we live on the blacktop south of town and we still had people riding by at 10 ‘clock,” Patton said. “I’m not a bicycle rider, so I don’t understand it at all, but I think it’s cool.”
After such a long day, Trenton is not done showing off their small-town hospitality. This weekend on Saturday, Aug. 3 the community will welcome hundreds of other wheeled apparatuses with their sixth annual Trenton Car Show in the very same park.
From 11 a.m.-4 p.m. a variety of cars, trucks and motorcycles will offer entertainment alongside music, food vendors, door prizes, and 50/50 drawings. Entry to the event is free and Patton looks forward to seeing the park brimming with people once again as Trenton shows off their “Iowa Nice.”
Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com
