Around 75 people gathered at the Hotel Pattee Thursday for the second annual Iowa Bicycle Tourism Conference.

Perry Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bob Wilson says it was originally designed to be centered around the Raccoon River Valley Trail and High Trestle Trail, but bicycle enthusiasts from other areas are also taking note of what’s working here.

“The trail’s here, they got it here and now it’s our time to get people off the trail and kind of utilize and showcase Perry.  So tourism dollars are very important.  It was a very well received and I think out of it comes the fact that Perry is serious about it.  Everybody at the end said, ‘Do it again next year, we want to come back, we love being here.’ So I had a great time and it was an honor and a pleasure to be a panelist too.”

Topics discussed at the conference included trail development, becoming more bicycle friendly, business success stories along the trail and using technology to market your business.

It was hosted by Common Thread, the City of Perry and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.