Carl Voss, my one-time colleague at the Des Moines Register way back when, really gets around town as a volunteer. I’ve seen him at events supporting trails (on water and land), the Lauridsen Skatepark, and the Street Collective (formerly the Bicycle Collective), at local music events, and, recently, at the Women Helping Women luncheon, where his wife, Susan Voss, vice president and general counsel at American Enterprise Co., was honored.  

When you see bike trail extensions and the proliferation of rental bikes around town, you can bet Carl was involved somehow. 

So it wasn’t a surprise when I met him for coffee a while back that he also is supporting Friends of Des Moines Parks, which has an unusual golf and bike fundraiser coming up June 14. The event grew from a conversation that Voss had with friend Doug Reichardt. 

“Not everyone likes to golf,” Voss says of the ubiquitous benefit golf tournaments around Central Iowa. “Biking is the new golf,” in part because it’s just as easy to negotiate a deal while pedaling as it is while riding in a golf cart or strolling between golf holes, he added. 

View the article that got Voss and Reichardt thinking.

So Waveland Golf Course will host the best ball golf tournament and bike ride. Check-in for golf, at $150 single or $500 for a foursome, is at 10:30 a.m. The 18-mile bike ride costs $75 single and $125 for two, with check-in at 12:30 p.m. There are “hydration stops” that involve beer. Register at www.friendsofdmparks.org.

While we are on the parks topic, Voss is pretty pumped that local artist John Bosley’s series of prints will help commemorate the 125th birthday of the four oldest city parks: Grandview, Union, Waveland and Greenwood. The images will be on postcards, T-shirts and posters, with proceeds going to Friends of Des Moines Parks. Bosley worked at Raygun before moving to Mainframe Studios and then Valley Junction under the Bozz Prints name. 

Also, a new edition of the regional trails map is available at www.dsmstreetcollective.org/trail-map  and at the Street Collective, 506 E. Sixth Street, Suite 100. It’s a joint effort of UnityPoint Health, Polk County Conservation, the city of Des Moines, Friends of Des Moines Parks, and Central Iowa Trails.