Wednesday, September 2, 2009 5:07 PM CDT

Last minute preparations are being made for the third leg start of the Tour of Missouri 2009 downtown on Sept. 9.

With less than a week to go as of press time, the local planning organization and schools are working to make the big race day a learning event for the thousands of onlookers — including a couple thousand students — who will witness the cycling competition as it passes through town.

Visible signs building toward the 11 a.m. start on Sept. 9 of the third leg of the week-long race can already be seen. A banner has been stretched across Columbia Street downtown for the past few weeks. Missouri Department of Transportation signs have lined the approaches to the community. MoDOT and city street crews have spent the past several days smoothing out any sizable bumps and filling cracks in the road surfaces on the race route.

Starting Monday at 5 p.m. local street chalk artist Craig Thomas will begin creating artwork in honor of the Tour of Missouri. The work is being sponsored by the Mineral Area Council on the Arts. Thomas will be working on his masterpiece throughout the evening and should complete it early Tuesday afternoon.

At 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday the city will dedicate the “Cycle Inn,” a bike hostel housed in a remodeled portion of the historic former St. Francois County Jail. Immediately following the dedication ceremony the new inn will be open for walk-through tours. The purpose of the hostel is to provide free housing for cyclists passing through Farmington on the transcontinental cycling route. The city sees between 800 and 1,500 riders pass through town each year as part of the preferred route established in the 1970s.

At 6 p.m. visitors downtown can enjoy free hotdogs and soft drinks at the St. Francois County Courthouse Annex. A drawing will be held at 6:30 p.m. to give away four bikes courtesy of the St. Francois County Rotary Club.

At 6:40 p.m. even the youngest cyclists can get in the Tour of Missouri spirit by pedaling in a short ride on a portion of the actual race route. Then at 7 p.m. a family bike ride sponsored by Ozarks Federal Savings and Loan will take riders through the complete four mile route to be used by Tour of Missouri racers the following morning. The route will start downtown near the courthouse and end near the Columbia Street/Black Knight Driver intersection.

Then come Wednesday morning the downtown area will get busy. Some downtown streets will be closed through most of the day. Expo booths and hospitality tents will start going up long before sunrise. Columbia and Harrison streets will be closed from A Street to Jackson Street starting at 5 a.m.

Race teams will begin arriving in town at about 9 a.m., the same time expo booths and hospitality tents open to the public.

Other street closings will include Franklin and Jefferson streets from Liberty Street to First Street, and Washington Street from Liberty Street to Harrison Street.

The police department will begin shutting down the race route starting at about 10:30 a.m. That route will stretch from Columbia Street downtown to Ste. Genevieve Avenue all the way to Walters Street, Fleming Street from Ste. Genevieve Avenue to Walters, and Walters Street from Fleming to Ste. Genevieve Avenue. They will also close Carleton Street from Ste. Genevieve Avenue to Liberty Street, Liberty from Carleton to Black Knight Drive, and Black Knight Drive from Liberty to Columbia. The final closure will be Route 221 from Black Knight Drive to west of the U.S. 67 overpass.

Starting at 10:20 a.m., Mayor Stuart “Mit” Landrum will take the stage at the starting point of the race downtown. He will introduce dignitaries and welcome the crowd. Then he will introduce Bill Towler and Ursula Kthiri, co-chairs for the local organizing committee for the race.

Following a welcome statement, Towler and Kthiri will introduce a group of elementary students who will greet the racers in foreign languages native to the nations represented by the race teams. The different schools in the community have been working on the 23-country list provided by Tour of Missouri organizers. Four

Truman Kindergarten will greet the racers in English, Roosevelt Elementary is French, Lincoln Intermediate in Spanish, and St. Paul Lutheran in German.

Students will also present flags denoting the 23 countries. Truman Kindergarten will decorate flags for New Zealand and the United States. Jefferson Elementary will do Argentina, Australia and Serbia/Montenegro. Roosevelt will do Canada, Belarus, and Uzbekistan flags.

Washington-Franklin Elementary will make flags for Italy, Slovenia and Spain. Lincoln Intermediate is working on Brazil, Colombia, Denmark and Poland flags. The Farmington Middle School students are working on Belgium, Netherlands, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine flags.

St. Joseph Catholic School will present Switzerland, and St. Paul Lutheran School will have Germany and Great Britain.

In addition to activities as part of the starting ceremonies on race day, students are also learning about the Tour of Missouri ahead of time with technology. Leanna Johnson posted a website to help educate and teach students about the Tour of Missouri and the countries being represented. There are seven stages for students to learn.

Stage one is all about bicycling. Stage two is participating Missouri cities.  Stage three is USA geography. Stage four is World/Country geography. Stage five is Foreign Language. Stage six is Tourism and economy. Stage seven is World Culture.

Following the presentation of flags and greetings, the major sponsors for the leg of the race will be announced. Then at about 10:50 a.m. the top riders leading off the day’s leg of the race will be introduced, and all riders will be “called up”. Prior to the introductions riders will be signing autographs and warming up for the day’s race.

At 10:57 a.m. the JROTC Color Guard, based at Farmington High School, will take the stage for the presentation of colors. The National Anthem will be played as a trumpet solo by Farmington High School student Kayla Drye. Cyclists will take to their mounts and wait for Mayor Landrum’s 11 a.m. firing of the starting pistol.

The racers will head east on Columbia Street and complete the in-town loop, or “parade” portion of the race. The first roughly four-mile section will take the riders from Columbia Street to Ste. Genevieve Avenue, right on Fleming, left on Walters Drive, left on Ste. Genevieve Avenue headed back west, right on Carleton, left on Liberty, left on Black Knight Drive and right onto Route 221.

The official competitive “rolling” start of the third leg of the race will happen just west of the U.S. 67/Route 221 overpass near Walker Drive. From that point racers will head west on Route 221 through Doe Run and continue on to State Route 21 north near Pilot Knob. The racers will make their way more than 100 miles to Rolla over the next four hours on what has been deemed likely the most challenging portion of this year’s race.

“Everything is coming together really well,” said Towler on Wednesday morning.

A main focus of the community and event organizers has been the involvement of students on race day. The Farmington R-7 School District, St. Joseph Catholic School and St. Paul Lutheran School all agreed to allow students to view the race for a brief time.

Students at Farmington Middle School will line up along Fleming Street, Lincoln Intermediate will line up along Walter Street inside the playground fence, Roosevelt elementary will line up along Walter Street in front of the school and remain inside the fence.

St. Paul and St. Joseph students will be able to take in the race as it passes through on Carleton Street.

Jefferson Elementary students will be shuttled to the city Sports Complex where they will gather inside the fence at the second field. Washington-Franklin students will also be shuttled to the Sports Complex and view the race from the first field.

Farmington High School students will line up along Black Knight Drive from Liberty Street to the tennis courts. The Black Knight Marching Band will perform as the cyclists pass by the high school.

More information regarding the Tour of Missouri 2009 can be found at www.tourofmissouri.com, or at www.dailyjournalonline.com.

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