Devout bicycle riders are rolling toward Love County this week with their sights set on Caldwell, Kan., as the destination of a 400-mile state border to state border junket in the 2008 Oklahoma FreeWheel tour.
Local residents and officials are prepared to serve as the launch point for 1,000-plus riders next Sunday when the tour pedals out of town on State Highway 77 toward Sulphur, the first of six state destination points before reaching Kansas.
Coupled with a 30-mile “warm-up” ride from Marietta to the state border and back, the overall ride will span 448 miles.
Residents and officials have the welcome mat out and have cleared space on the local school campus as a campsite for the visiting riders.
Other arrangements also have been completed by a committee representing government entities, civic organizations and the Love County Chamber of Commerce.
Riders and area residents are invited to share in activities around the historic county courthouse on Saturday. The City of Ardmore Trolley will be available to ferry visitors on a tour of local historical sites starting about 11 a.m. Saturday. Shuttle service between the school campus and downtown will also be provided.
With free entertainment underway on the Frontier Stage, Marietta Fire Department volunteer firefighters will be serving free ice cream during the afternoon.
Donations will be accepted for the department’s operation fund. Elsewhere around the downtown area, Spiritual Seekers will sell bottled water, Love County 4-Hers will peddle baked goods and other activities will be under way.
Love County Chamber of Commerce plans a lasagna dinner for Oklahoma FreeWheel participants at the school cafeteria and has cooperated for an official opening of the Oklahoma FreeWheel tour at 7 p.m. Saturday at McClain Stadium.
Local Boy Scouts are preparing to serve breakfast to the riders before the tour leaves town Sunday morning on the route that will travel to Sulphur, Seminole, Henryetta, Drumright, Perry and Tonkawa into Kansas before turning west south of Wichita to the Caldwell terminal point.
