OHV Park 'Crown jewel'

By KELBY WINGERT kwingert@messengernews.net

Off-highway vehicle riders will now have a space to develop their riding skills — a space that honors the man who was instrumental in the creation of the Gypsum City OHV Park south of Fort Dodge.

Larry Leiting was the owner of Flooring America in Fort Dodge and the chairman of the Fort Dodge Convention and Visitors Bureau in the early 2000s.

“He had a passion for this park and had the idea to meet with the gypsum companies, along with Dennis Plautz and a few other folks,” said Matt Cosgrove, Webster County conservation director, during a dedication at the park in October. “Fortunately, those conversations went well, and today you see the fruits of that labor.”

Since those first meetings in 2000 and the park’s initial opening in 2006, thousands of riders have come to enjoy the tracks and 65 miles of trails on 800 acres of land.

“Little did they know, 20 years later, that we would have Iowa’s largest off-highway vehicle park because of those efforts,” Cosgrove said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the OHV park saw a 300 percent increase in use — with most park visitors coming from out of the area, or even out of the state, Cosgrove said.

There are eight OHV parks in the state of Iowa, though three are currently closed — two due to the 2020 derecho and one because of flooding. According to Dan Kleen of the Iowa OffHighway Vehicle Association, the Gypsum City park is larger than the other seven parks combined.

Leiting died Oct. 22, 2022, at age 86.

“This was a really neat and special way to honor him,” said Pat Leiting, Larry’s son. “You know, a lot of these ideas were contrived over a round table with a beer and a napkin, so it’s pretty

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