Participants needed for Sikeston Lions Club’s Cotton Ramble bike ride

Organized by the Sikeston Lions Club, the Cotton Ramble, which is now in its 15th year, will be Sept. 9 in Historic Downtown Sikeston by the Sikeston Depot Museum. This year’s event also coincides with Historic Downtown Sikeston Wine Festival. (Submitted photo/File)

SIKESTON — This year’s 15th Annual Cotton Ramble will take place in September, and coordinators of the event urgently need participation to keep the annual event going. 

The Sikeston Lions Club, which also sponsored the bicycle ride and whose member, Rodney McConnell, organizes the event, said club members chose to change the usual date. 

“We moved the date from the traditional Saturday in October to the second Saturday in September, which will be Sept. 9 this year,” McConnell said. 

This year’s registration will open at 8 a.m., and the race will start at 9 a.m. at the Sikeston Depot Museum in Historic Downtown Sikeston.

This year, there will be three distinct, primarily flat, 14-, 28- and 65-mile routes.

“All routes are on very low traffic and safe to ride on flat roads,” McConnell said. 

Anyone is allowed to sign up in advance online by visiting the link on the event’s Facebook page, McConnell said.

According to McConnell, people who do not register in advance must pay $30 instead of $15 on the day of the event. The entry fee is $10 for participants aged 13 to 17, and it’s free for kids under 12.

There is an opportunity to purchase an event T-shirt for $18 on the link on the Facebook page.

McConnell said the bicycle ride is one of four fundraising events thats held by the Lions Club, and all proceeds are used in the community.

McConnell said one of the important problems he wants to concentrate on is the prospect that this might be the final year for this event. 

“Club members are seriously considering whether to discontinue the event after this year if we do not increase the participation,” McConnell said. 

McConnell claimed the number of attendees, which has been between 75 and 100, is not enough.

“We need twice the number of participants to make it worth our time,” McConnell said. “It takes a tremendous amount of time to plan and run this event every year, so we must have more local people.”

In order for the event to continue, McConnell said more residents in the Bootheel area must attend.

He estimated that roughly 30 individuals had signed up in advance as of the present time and noted they would need about five times that number of participants to make the event successful. 

McConnell noted that participants in Cotton Ramble are encouraged to stay for the downtown Sikeston Wine and Music Festival, which takes place on the same day as the ride.

“Especially the people who are riding the 65 mile route and won’t get done until the late afternoon, we encourage them to stick around town and check out the wine festival starting at 6 p.m.,” McConnell said.

Visit the Facebook page, “Sikeston Cotton Ramble Bike Ride,” to learn more about the event and to register for the ride.