Move to double size of National Motorcycle Museum

The National Motorcycle Museum will more than double in size next year when it moves next from downtown Anamosa to a former retail building at the U.S. 151-Highway 164 interchange.

The museum plans to move from its present 16,000-square-foot space at 200 E. Main St. to a 36,000-square-foot space at 102 Chamber Drive. The former discount store will have enough space for revolving exhibits and interactive exhibits in addition to the present collection of 240-250 motorcycles, museum leaders said.

“I want to take the museum to the next level,” National Motorcycle Museum Jon Parham said.

Parham added that the museum want to involve more motorcycle collectors in telling the stories of American motorcycling.

Many loaned items will be needed for exhibits such as Women and Motorcycling, and board track racing.

Parham also announced that the museum has recruited Mark Mederski as special projects director to assist with the move and the design of the facility.

Mederski was formerly executive director of the American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation, which operates the American Motorcycle Association's Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Pickerington, Ohio. He has joined the National Motorcycle Museum on a one-year contract, and will continue to live in Ohio.

Museum Director Jeff Carstensen said plans are to have the new location open or at least two have the museum co-located at the old and new facilities in June 2010, when J & P Cycles of Anamosa holds its annual customer appreciation event. The event draws thousands of motorcyclists.

Carstensen said the plans include a 3,500-square-foot banquet facility inside the museum that could be rented for special events such as receptions.

A strip shopping center with a McDonald's restaurant and a Subway Sandwiches and Salads restaurant are also underdevelopment at the Chamber Drive site.

The National Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame was founded in 1989, and moved in the fall of 1999 from Sturgis, S.D., to Anamosa.

Admission to the museum is $7 for adults, but a special $5 rate will be offered during this Saturday's Anamosa Pumpkinfest.