PANORA, Iowa, February 22, 2010 – Carla Offenburger, president of the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association, has been saying lately that there’s a “whole new era” coming into bloom right now on the well-known recreational trail in west central Iowa.  And anybody who was at the RRVT’s third annual membership banquet here on Saturday night, February 20, could feel it.

A new, $6.6-million, 33-mile-long “North Loop” is now under construction.  That will boost the RRVT’s total  mileage to 89 miles in the next couple of years, making it one of the longest paved rec trails in the U.S.  The number of  bicyclists, walkers, joggers, skaters, snowmobilers, birdwatchers, hunters and others on the trail is expected to triple or quadruple.

Plans are now underway in nearly every community along the trail to enhance their amenities and attractions to be ready for the growing number of trail users.

Everybody was talking in that direction at the banquet, including guest speaker Kevin Cooney, the veteran news anchor at KCCI-TV who is also a member of the RRVT association and a frequent user of the trail, both as a cyclist and runner.

Kevin Cooney speaking at RRVT banquet.

“All that’s happened on this trail the last 20 years is going to increase a millionfold over the next 10 years,” Cooney told the crowd of nearly 200 that filled the Lake Panorama National Resort & Conference Center.  “To those who had the vision 25 years ago and acted on it to get all this started on this trail, thank you!”

Cooney cited several benefits from having a well-developed rec trail.  “It’s a great place to enjoy exercising, but it’s more than that,” he said. “It’s also an economic development opportunity, a great public relations vehicle for the communities, and something that has a positive impact on public health.”

Among those attending were two members of the boards of supervisors in the three counties the RRVT traverses, as well as mayors of four trail towns, several city council members, several members of the counties’ conservation boards and regional economic development officials.

The RRVT Association will start the coming trail season in the best financial position it’s ever been in, thanks to the $10,604 raised with live and silent auctions and several cash donations Saturday night.

The attendance and the amount of money raised are both records.  At the first banquet in 2008, 153 attended and the auctions brought in $8,589.  At the second one in 2009, there were 171 in the crowd and $8,873 was raised.

The money all goes to fund the trail association’s activities in marketing and promoting the RRVT and its communities – locally, regionally and nationally.

Of course, the association has been very active in the past three years in the $6.6 million campaign to pay for the new North Loop.  That effort went over the top last fall.  To help celebrate the conclusion of that successful drive, one of the largest private donors was represented at the banquet to make a ceremonial check presentation.  Tom Holcomb, a member of the board of directors of Raccoon Valley Bank, handed Dallas County Conservation director Mike Wallace and RRVT Association president Offenburger a trophy check for $75,000 from the bank – and that brought cheers and applause from the big crowd.  The Raccoon Valley Bank has several locations in towns on the trail or nearby – Adel, Perry, Minburn, Bagley and Dallas Center.

Guest speaker Cooney told hilarious stories about his own cycling, as well as counting the glories of rec trails. He pointed out that he and his wife Mollie Cooney, another KCCI-TV reporter and news anchor who was in the audience Saturday night, have ridden on trails all over Iowa.

Kevin began his talk wearing his anchorman’s blazer, dress shirt and necktie, but ripped them off quickly and spoke in his favorite cycling  jersey. That immediately won over the big crowd of trail enthusiasts.

“I’ve watched over the years why people get into bicycling,” he said. “We’re in it for the exercise, or for the health aspect of it.  Yeah, right.  When we’re out there, aren’t we really running away from something?  We’re running away from the next decade.  We have this fear, this mis-trust of the next decade.

“That’s why I ride bikes,” Cooney continued, getting more fiery with every word, “to try to stay young.  They say 40 is the new 30?  Shut up! 50 is the new 40?  I’m knocking on 60’s door right now.  60’s fricking 60 – that’s what it is!”

Having a trail like the RRVT, he said, is “one of the greatest things that can happen to an area. ‘If you build it, they will come.’  I’ve got my eye on a house in Redfield,” then adding in an aside to Mollie, “Dear, I probably should’ve told you before now!”

She rolled her eyes and said under her breath, “I’m sliding my purse back under this chair to try to hide my wallet.  I’m afraid how much this night is going to cost me!”

Kevin Cooney had two big suggestions for the RRVT Association.

“I’ve become a triathlete the last few years,” he said. “I think you should have your own triathlon out here on the RRVT.  I’d help with that.  Now, the trail would be perfect for the bicycling and running parts of a triathlon.  But I’m not sure anybody would want to go for a nice long swim in the Raccoon River.  There’s a solution to that.  A triathlon I’ve done in Ames has people kayaking instead of swimming, and you could sure do that on the Raccoon.”

He also continued his own lobbying effort to get a trail link completed between the towns of Perry and Woodward.  Perry will be on the new North Loop of the RRVT.  Woodward so far is the west terminus of the “High Trestle Trail,” formerly known as the Ankeny-to-Woodward Trail.  He said he’s been pestering Dallas County’s conservation boss Wallace with the idea during the past year.

“Look at the map of that area – it’s just this far from Perry to Woodward!” Cooney said, holding up his fingers to show a very short distance.

He recalled how the RRVT Association, on a snowy February Saturday in 2007, held a “Business & Tourism Development Seminar” in the trail town of Cooper.

“We sent up a reporter, Eric Hanson, to cover that seminar,” Cooney said, “because we of course recognized that Cooper, Iowa, is such an important center of business and economic development.  But actually the seminar was really good.  You brought in those speakers from the Root River State Trail in Minnesota to tell how they’d developed everything on that trail.  I went back just the other day and pulled up that story to see it again.  You know what?  Everything you all at the seminar talked about wanting to do, it’s all happening right now out here.”

More coverage of the banquet is included in the captions to the photos posted below here.

Raccoon River Valley Trail Association board members Jim Miller (left) of Waukee and Kevin Wilbeck of Rippey, ready to start selling raffle tickets as the crowd arrived.  One raffle was for chances on a new bicycle, the other was for a bag of cash.

Allan Sieck, another RRVT Association board member from Rippey, shows off the unique table he built and donated for the auction. It features five species of wood native to the area of the RRVT.

Here is a close up of the top of the table that Allan Sieck built.  Note the different kinds of wood that are inlays in the cherry wood surface.  The artwork was done by Sieck’s daughter Julianna Cullen.

In this photo are some of the guests who traveled farthest to the RRVT Association banquet in Panora.  Left to right, board member Jim Miller, selling a raffle ticket on a bicycle; Mark Wyatt, of North Liberty, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition; Joe Connolly, of Council Bluffs, buying the ticket; Jen Wyatt walking up from the right, and Cindy Connolly.

Mike Wallace, the Dallas County Conservation director, did an update on the RRVT’s “North Loop” expansion project.

Forrest Ridgway (center), owner of the Bike World stores in the Des Moines area and Ames, talks to two of his good customers, Jefferson Mayor Craig Berry (left) and Greene County Conservation Board member Diane Wise, also from Jefferson.

Kevin Cooney (left) was wearing a blazer, dress shirt and necktie when he arrived at the RRVT Association banquet with his wife Mollie Cooney.  Here, they are talking to Clark Smith, of Des Moines, who is executive director of the association.

After the first half-minute of his speech, Cooney ripped off his anchorman’s coat and tie, and delivered the rest of his remarks while sporting his favorite cycling jersey.

After the speech, Cooneys stayed to visit with those attending.  Here they are with their banquet tablemate Rich Osborne, of Jefferson, an RRVT Association member who is co-owner of the new Greene Bean Coffee Co.  One-pot sample bags of that coffee, which is roasted in Jefferson, were given to all those who attended the banquet.

Larry Pickering of West Des Moines and Kevin Cooney had a quick chat after Cooney’s speech.

Allen Hall, of Malvern, makes a bid on a silent auction item, as the crowd behind him checks out others of the 55 silent auction items that were donated.

Carla Offenburger (left) is shown here with Allen & Joyce Hall of Malvern, all wearing their RRVT vests. Notice here that Allen, a proud Scotsman, came sporting a tartan tam & necktie.  He is a member of the board of directors of Southwest Iowa Nature Trails, which owns and operates much of the Wabash Trace Nature Trail.  The Wabash Trace towns of Malvern and Imogene each put together baskets for the RRVT auction, offering overnight accommodations, free meals, local gifts and year-long passes on that southwest Iowa trail that stretches southeast from Council Bluffs, through the Loess Hills to the Missouri border.

Tom Holcomb (left), a member of the board of directors of the Raccoon Valley Bank, talked about what a recreational and tourism amenity the RRVT is, as he prepared to present the bank’s donation to Mike Wallace for the new North Loop. Holcomb added the trail makes for pretty good people-watching, too.

Here’s the trophy check for $75,000 that the Raccoon Valley Bank donated in the campaign to raise $6.6 million for the North Loop project.  Left to right are Tom Holcomb of the bank; Mike Wallace, the Dallas County Conservation director, and Carla Offenburger, president of the RRVT Association.

Wendy Kozal, of Jefferson, shows off the new Schwinn bicycle she won by picking the right spot on a raffle board, with chances costing $5 per spot.  The Schwinn was donated by the Hiawatha Bike Company, of Perry.

One of the most popular items on the live auction was this unique copper weather vane, topped off with a classic high-wheeler bicycle.  The original work of art was made by artist & plumber Brian Myers, of Dallas Center, and donated by him and his wife Linda Myers.  Left to right in the photo are Mike Wallace; Bob German (holding the weather vane), the RRVT Association board member from Dallas Center who was chairman of the banquet committee, and auctioneer Chad Daughety, of Daugherty Auction & Real Estate in Adel.

Forrest Ridgway, owner of the Bike World stores, describes the Trek bicycle he donated for the live auction.  RRVT Association board members in the photo are Mike Wallace (left) and Daniel Willrich, of Dallas Center.  The bicycle is a new development by Trek — a self-shifting three-speed.  So it’s like having an automatic transmission on a bicycle! “It’s a perfect bike for the Raccoon River Valley Trail,” said Ridgway.

Nationally-syndicated cartoonist and artist Brian Duffy (left), of West Des Moines, again did an original drawing featuring the RRVT and donated it for the live auction.  The purchaser was Jerry Roberts (right), an RRVT Association member from Jefferson who is also on the Greene County Board of Supervisors.  Brian and his wife Sharon Duffy attended this year’s banquet, after he spoke at last year’s.  He now works with Kevin Cooney, as the Duffy cartoons are a regular feature of the KCCI-TV news.