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The City Council of Webster City routinely approves short-term closure of city streets for special events.

On Monday, however, the Council approved a street closure that was anything but routine. It facilitates return of the Tour de Webster bicycle race/ride and, notably, supports a new tourism initiative in Webster City.

The Tour de Webster bicycle race will return to Webster City for the first time since being suspended in 2020 at the start of the Covid pandemic.

The race was first held in fall 1989, according to Pat Foley, who was co-chair of the event with the late Kent Harfst.

Interest in an annual bicycle race in Webster City may have started in 1986. That was the year American Greg Le Mond became the first non-Frenchman to win the fabled men’s Tour de France, considered by many to be the world’s most prestigious cycling event.

“Americans were watching, and enjoying, bike racing for the first time during those years,” Foley recalled.

“Kent and I thought we’d hold an event to get people out of the house and onto their bikes,” Foley said. “From the start, it was a race everyone could enjoy, regardless of their cycling experience. To prove we were serious, we went at the pace of the slowest rider.”

Now, jointly planned and promoted by Webster City Parks & Recreation, Hamilton County Conservation, and the Webster City Area Chamber of Commerce, two separate race events will begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday. September 25.

The first event will follow a “scenic route” through city streets to the Boone River Trail, thence to Briggs Woods Park and return. A “road race route” will wind through the countryside for 29.5 miles via city streets and county roads to Woolstock and return.

Both races will conclude at the Seneca Street Saloon, corner Bank and Seneca streets, where riders will be able to join in the city’s second annual Oktoberfest celebration. In addition to food and drink at the Saloon, Webster City’s own Actung! Polka Band will be playing polka music for those who wish to dance, or just listen and take in the atmosphere.

Anna Woodward, director of the Chamber of Commerce, said, “We know from Arrivalist, an online tourism data platform, the peak day for visits to Webster City is Saturday.”

Woodward, who’s been leading Chamber staff and volunteers in tourism training over the last year, added, “We learned from Stephanie Neppl’s presentation that attracting visitors from a larger area is more successful when there are multiple things to do at a destination.”

That was the reasoning behind holding the bicycle races and Oktoberfest on the same autumn Saturday.

Neppl, tourism liaison for Travel Iowa, the state’s official office of tourism promotion, presented at a Chamber event last March.

“During the session, we learned there are several travel trends working in our favor,” said Woodward. “Traveling closer to home, cultural events, and being able to slow down and enjoy nature are true of both the bicycling and Oktoberfest events.”

Officially, the Chamber hopes to draw visitors from within 50 miles of Webster City.

In other business on Monday, the City Council:

— Approved dates for the sale of a series 2025 general obligation bonds, not to exceed $3 million. The bonds were approved in concept at a public hearing held June 16, 2025, at City Hall. Dorsey & Whitney LLPO of Des Moines has been retained by the city as disclosure counsel, while the Des Moines office of Philadelphia-based PFM will handle actual sale of the bonds.

— Passed a second reading of an amendment to the Webster City Code of Ordinances, Chapter 46, Article 2, Division 2, Section 46-50 to place a new stop sign on Hospital Drive that would see traffic stop at Fair Meadow Drive. The measure was approved by the Traffic Committee July 8, 2025. The Council waived the third hearing of the measure and adopted it as code.