‘Be Bold. Ride Gold:’ Davenport RAGBRAI announces new logo, theme and dip site for state-wide bicycle ride

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) the oldest, largest, and longest multi-day bicycle touring event in the world, is celebrating its 50th anniversary and this year the ride is set to end in Davenport.

To honor RAGBRAI’s 50 years, the Davenport RAGBRAI team held a media conference Thursday afternoon at the Union Station Destination Center, 102 South Harrison Street, with individuals gathering in anticipation to see and hear all about the beginning details of this year’s ride, including the announcement of a new Davenport RAGBRAI logo, theme and dip site.

“‘Be Bold. Ride Gold.’ is the theme for 2023,” announced Dave Harrell, President and CEO of Visit Quad Cities. “We feel that we’re a bold destination and that Davenport is a bold community, and we feel that the participants and the riders that are literally riding anywhere upwards of 500 miles on this amazing ride across the great state of Iowa, well that’s a pretty bold thing to do.”

Visit Quad Cities officials say that the logo and theme for the Davenport logo incorporate the 50 years of RAGBRAI event, as well as the excitement of the riders to tackle the 500-mile route, and the importance of the Mississippi River for the dip site with each town creating its own logo that’s separate from the official RAGBRAI logo.

In Thursdays media conference it was also announced by Visit Quad Cities officials that the dip site will be at the Marquette Street boat ramp and Veterans Memorial Park in Davenport.

Officials also added that the route to the dip site will be announced by RAGBRAI’s event organizers in the coming months and that more announcements will follow including the host committee, housing, transportation, parking, campgrounds, corporate sponsorship and volunteer opportunities, the vendor program, and entertainment.

The ride begins in Sioux City on July 22 and will end in Davenport on July 29, coincidentally the same weekend as Davenport’s historic 49th annual Quad-City Times Bix 7 race.

“Over 100,000 visitors will come to the community for RAGBRAI specifically,” said Quad Cities Chamber CEO Ladrina Wilson. “Now those are the riders, those are the family members that come along for the ride, and what that means for our community is one, that we are going to get a number of guests who are going to experience all that is Quad Cities, specifically Davenport. Two, our downtown and community is going to be activated because of this event and around this group of visitors.”

For additional information on Davenport RAGBRAI visit davenportragbrai.com.