A celebration of popular motorbike made in Webster City nearly 70 years ago wraps up today  at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds. Vern Ratcliff, one of the organizers of the Doodlebug Reunion, says they have people from all over the country in town.

“Kansas, Illinois and Michigan that we know of and there may be others in town that we don’t know of,” according to Ratcliff. Last year the reunion was attended by over 150 of the Doodlebug enthusiasts from across the nation.

Ratcliff says they will be doing some riding and many people bring in parts to sell or swap. The Doodlebug was manufactured by the former Beam Manufacturing in the mid to late 1940s in Webster City. Ratcliff said the bike was quite popular at the time. There were 40,000 produced and they were sold by the Gamble stores as the Hiwawatha and the Western Auto stores sold them as the Western Flyer.

They were sold all across the country and some in Canada”

The event runs today (Saturday) from 8 A.M. until 4 p.m. Admission is free for everyone. You can find out more about the reunion at www.wcdoodleburg.com.

(Reporting by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)