(Radio Iowa) – Thousands of bicyclists on RAGBRAI — the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa — will leave Glenwood Sunday and peddle through the small southwest Iowa towns of Silver City, Henderson, and Emerson arriving in Red Oak. Shawnna Silvius, Red Oak’s mayor, says they’ve been told to expect 20-thousand people — along with 10-thousand support vehicles. “I don’t think some of us can quite imagine how many people are going to be there,” she says.

City crews are busy grooming outdoor spaces. “To the best that they can be with the quickness that the grass grows and just all the final touches on areas that need touched up with paint and we’re getting ready to put up the flags and it’s going to be absolutely beautiful weather this weekend,” she says, “a slight chance of rain, maybe, but we’re going to pray that doesn’t happen.”

She says they’ve paid a lot of attention to road conditions in and around Red Oak — and the street sweeping machines are out now because even a little sand can create a slick spot that’s a hazard for bicyclists. Sunday’s RAGBRAI route will cover about 42 miles and the tiny town of Henderson and its 144 residents are prepping for thousands to pass through. Rachel Knight, chair of Henderson’s RAGBRAI Committee, says they’re hoping to lure some to stop for a while. Knight says “On our playground equipment, they’re going to run some hoses and stuff and it’s going to be a ‘Hillbilly Water Park” so that they can kind of help cool off.”

She says “There’s going to be some photo ops around town, like things that you would do in a small town so, for example, we planted some corn and it says, ‘Watch the Corn Grow.’ There’s another one where we just have an old window propped up on a stand and it says, ‘Watching My Neighbor.'”

The Henderson fire department will be selling loose meat sandwiches and sweet corn to raise money for a new fire truck. Another group of Henderson residents will be selling 500 bracelets to bicyclists, hoping to raise enough money to cover the cost of installing playground equipment that’s already been purchased.