MUSCATINE, Iowa – Within 20 minutes after he had picked up the last piece of trash from this year’s Great River Days, organizer Kerry Keller had begun looking ahead to next year.

“I can’t say thank you enough to the hundreds of volunteers who helped pull it off,” Keller said Sunday. And he said dozens of people have come forward since Thursday, when the celebration began, and volunteered to help with Great River Days next year.

Keller, who owns Party HQ and K&D Formalwear and Celebration Shoppe at 223 E. Second St., joined

JJ Koehler, owner of Connected Home Technologies at 229 E. Second St., in December 2008 to organize 2009’s Great River Days. They took on the chore when no one else stepped forward to take over from the Muscatine Quarterback Club, which had organized Great River Days for the past dozen years. The event has been held in Muscatine for 51 years.

There were doubters in the community who didn’t think it could be organized by just two people, Keller said. “We proved it can be done,” he said.

Keller and Koehler filled the weekend with what they called family events and entertainment. Some rain Saturday morning didn’t stop the parade, which was led by the Iowa National Guard and World War II veterans. Other events later in the day included a talent competition, a watermelon-eating contest and the Backwater Gamblers’ water-ski show.

“The kids had a great time,” Keller said. “We were able to pack the park.”

Events for families continued Sunday with a 13-mile ride led by the Melon City Bike Club on Muscatine’s trails and streets.

Fior Santaniello, 45, of Muscatine was one of the 20-some riders who participated. He brought along his children, Alexa, 11, Nick, 10, and Tess, 4, who Santaniello pulled in a trailer behind his bike. They rode while Kim, Fior Santaniello’s wife and the children’s mother, stayed at home.

“We have not been out very much this year,” said Fior Santaniello, a truck driver who was hit while biking in Des Moines two weeks ago when a motorist ran a stop sign. He said he likes to bike at least once a week with his family from Musser to Weed Park and back.

Sunday’s ride started at the riverfront and took the riders to Weed Park and through the Bandag Learning Center grounds before taking the riders near the Heinz plant to Geneva Golf & Country Club, up Mulberry Avenue, through Discovery Park and Kent-Stein Park and Musser Park before ending back at the riverfront.

By then, Keller and other volunteers were busy cleaning up and beginning to think about next year. The goal, Keller said, was to break even financially. In the next two to three days, he said, organizers should have a better idea of how Great River Days fared.

“We’ll see how it all figures out,” Keller said.