Nearly 10,000 unfamiliar faces filled downtown Fairfield Thursday as riders from RAGBRAI made their overnight stay in Fairfield.

After riding 65.9 miles from Centerville, riders were welcomed Thursday with local food vendors, live music, and a first hand look at the Fairfield community. Bicyclists from all over the country took part in the “Geared for Weird” theme with bands including The Eternal Frontier, The Ragged Blade Band, and No Limits.

Ashley Dunbar, one of the people in charge of putting together the event tells KCII News there has been a lot of work behind the scenes to get to this put together, “We started in Febuary of this year when we found out we were going to be an overnight town. We did do it six years ago, so you would think that maybe having experience  would help, but there is always new things they incorporate into how you do things. We do have a hand book that comes directly from Des Moines RAGBRAI that kind of helps out. But I think as long as you put the right people into the right jobs, it seems to go pretty smoothly.”

This was the fifth overnight stay hosted by Fairfield, the city’s first since 2013. Riders picked up where they left off this morning and will ride through Henry and Des Moines Counties for 65.6 miles until their next stop in Burlington.