Food Vendor Permits
RAGBRAI® riders will be pedaling through the City of Oelwein on Friday, July 25, 2025. We are expecting 15,000-20,000 guests to spend part of the day and the night in Oelwein. This information is designed to answer some of your questions and assist you in filling out all required applications. It is our duty to provide a variety of food and refreshments for the riders; we need help from many non-profit organizations and businesses to accomplish our task. We want every participating organization and business to make money and have a positive experience with this event.
APPLICATION TO BECOME
A VENDOR
Food/Beverage establishments would not need a vendor permit to sell food/beverages as they do all other days of the year, but if they are setting up an outdoor booth in the designated vendor area, they would need a permit. ALL food vendors will need to be located within the designated food vendor area. A church that operates a soup/sandwich luncheon once a week or an athletic booster club that sells concessions during football games – both of these examples would need a permit. The test of whether or not you will need a permit is this: if RAGBRAI wasn’t coming that day would you be planning to operate in the same manner? Vendor fees are a necessary income to pay for all of the expenses associated with putting on the event.
Food vendors will be located in the south parking lot behind the Movie Theatre and down a section of 1st Street SW. This will be the centralized location for the beverage garden and entertainment. All spaces will be 10’ deep and 15’ frontage. Spaces will be marked and food vendors will be assigned a designated space the day of the event. If you need more than one space for your booth, you will need to pay for the extra space as listed below. There will be no vehicles allowed to stay in the vendor area. Once vendor space is set up your vehicle will need to be unhooked and parked outside of the vendor area.
There will be a fee for all food vendors, local or non-local. These fees will be required before any organization or business will be permitted to be a RAGBRAI vendor in Oelwein. With the payment of the vendor fee, all official RAGBRAI food vendors will be featured on maps, advertising and marketing of Oelwein to RAGBRAI riders. Applications and fees are due by June 27th, 2025 a $100 dollar late fee will apply if after this date.
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Local Vendor
Non-Profit $150.00
Profit $300.00 Extra Space $300.00
Out of Town Vendor $500.00 Extra Space $500.00
Refundable Cleaning Deposit (Applicable to ALL Vendors)
$100.00
*If you are located in the Oelwein Community School District you will be considered “local”.
The Food & Vendor Committee reserves the right to deny any application based on need, space availability, and/or vendor intent. Local vendors will be given first priority. Out of Town vendors will be accepted on a first come/first serve basis, with Vendor Committee having final authorization. It will be the goal of the committee to have a large variety of food and beverage choices for the riders and guests. All decisions of the committee will be final.
It will be up to each vendor to set their own prices. The RAGBRAI officials recommend that two prices be offered for main items or a meal – one for registered RAGBRAI participants (all registered riders and support personnel will have a wristband) and another price for all others. (For example, if you plan to set your meal cost at $5.00, make this the wristband price and charge $6.00 for non-wristband). To assure that prices are fair and reasonable, we ask that pricing information be listed on your application.
Food vendors may post signs in their space during RAGBRAI. Please note that all signs must be considerate and may be removed or asked to be moved to another location at the RAGBRAI committees discretion.
Electricity is an additional item with a fee of $100.00. To accommodate this, you must list your electrical needs and uses on your application and include the extra electrical fee with your application. Electricity and space requirements are also needed to identify locations in the vendor area and are required when submitting an application. If you require electricity, you must supply your own power cords that comply with equipment voltage requirements. No generators will be permitted due to noise. ​​​​​​​​​
RAGBRAI riders will start arriving anytime after 6:00 am., with most riders arriving between 11:00 am – 6:00 pm. All food vendors are required to be set up no later than 8:00 am, on Friday, July 25, 2025. All bike route roads will be closed to traffic at 6:00 am. More information to come on what route the food vendors will use. Volunteers will be on hand to direct you to your space. Make sure you have your setup process established in advance so you can get setup as quickly and smoothly as possible.
It is a short ride from Cedar Falls that day so vendors should be prepared to start serving at 8:00 am. with the bulk of riders between 11:00 AM – 6:00 pm.
10:30 PM is last call for food. You should start closing up at this time and be completely shut down by 11pm. Vendors are responsible for their own cleanup. Please leave the area as clean as it was when you arrived to receive your cleaning deposit refund. Vendors can place trash in receptacles that will be located in vendor areas. If we all work together, we will have a clean and safe environment for our event.
The cost for a Temporary Food Stand Permit is $50. Contact Adam Hahn, Environmental Health Officer for the Black Hawk County Health Department. Office: 319-291-2413, Fax: 319-291-2418.
Email: ahahn@co.black-hawk.ia.us for information on how to obtain a Temporary Food Stand Permit, or regarding the rules and regulations pertaining to food safety.
Temporary Food Stand Permits are required for all temporary food stands. This will be enforced by the Black Hawk County Health Department the day of the RAGBRAI event in Oelwein.
APPLICATION TO BECOME
A VENDOR
For-profit vendors need to fill out an application for a temporary Iowa Sales Tax permit, unless you already have an Iowa Sales Tax Permit. To get a permit, call the Iowa Department of Revenue at 563-386-6484, Extension 1. The full application can be found at the button above. Contact the Oelwein Chamber & Area Development at 319-283-1105 for any additonal questions you may have.