QC Forum - 3-24-24

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Quad City Forum, aweekly community service program produced by iHeartMedia to
look at the issues and opportunities thatexist in our community. Now here's your
hosts for a Quad City Forum,Thatt Luke and Denny Linnhowe. We're getting
a chance to talk to Dave Haroldfrom Visit quad Cities. The first thing

(00:23):
Dave, I think people need toknow is Visit quad Cities or the Chamber
of Commerce. I mean, likeyou guys are kind of the same sort
of an entity, big old welcoming. Yeah. Yeah, well, you
know, I think we're we're botheconomic development organizations. I think we're where

(00:44):
we differ. Our organization, Visitquad Cities is squarely focused on tourism,
you know, destination, you know, marketing, destination, you know management,
doing what we need to do,you know, out we bound to
position the Quad Cities as a placeto you know, visit, and then

(01:07):
sort of the broader elements of whatwe do would also include not only you
know, visitation, but visit andlive and experience and learn and invest and
work and play and all of thosethings. And that's really the role of
a destination marketing organization. But Ithink what really separates us from the chamber

(01:27):
is just that more more of anemphasis on tourism and visitation. And even
though we have a Moullan address,this is both sides of the river.
You guys are all over the place. Do you ever know where? Do
you kind of forget where your houseis at the end of the night.
That's that's a great question. No, we don't. I mean, we're

(01:48):
obviously we're so glad to hear that. We're glad to hear that. Well,
we're all Quad citizens and we havea presence, you know. Yes,
our offices in downtown Moleen are oneof our destination centers. Kind of
our primary one is in downtown Davenportat Union Station. But certainly the fifty

(02:08):
eight communities that make up the QuadCities you know, region, are all
important to visit Quad Cities, andI think that's what makes us unique as
a community. And also from avisitor perspective. Visitors don't know boundaries,
they don't necessarily care where they are. They just want good stuff. I

(02:29):
think sometimes locally we care a littlebit more about it. But if you're
here and you're traveling from wherever you'retraveling in into the QC. You just
want a great experience, and sothat's what's special about kind of what we
have to offer. There's probably somethingjust for about everybody and any one of

(02:49):
our communities that are in the QuadCities. Yeah, that's what I love
about the Quad Cities. Yet,that river really does not separate us,
even though we talk about that,but it really doesn't. There's so many
great things on both sides of theand people should definitely make both sides of
the river their destination. When wehit the good food, the greatest food
of all, I'm talking Quad CitiesRestaurant Week. We love when that hits,

(03:14):
Yeah, I mean, it's sucha fun chance for us to promote
all of our restaurants within the QCand our culinary vibe, which just continues
to diversify and get stronger every year. And so April eighth of the fourteenth,
we're celebrating our twelfth year of RestaurantWeeks. So it's something that we've

(03:37):
been part of for a long timeand I'm actually pleased to announce that.
So we're kind of breaking this withyou guys that we've got over one hundred
participating restaurants that are going to bepart of Restaurant Week this year. Last
year we had eighty. So thefact that we've got over one hundred,

(03:59):
I think it's something, you know, really special, and we're excited here
in a couple of weeks to kindof, you know, take a take
a step back and really think through, like how do we reflect and remember
that our restaurant scene is so vitallyimportant to you know, visitors, but
also you know, local people thatlive here. They're gathering places that they're

(04:20):
places that we're proud of. Wewant them to be successful. I think
that authenticity of local restaurants and reallywhat it's all about. And when visitors
are coming to the Quad Cities thatthey want to have that that local flavor.
They want to get that feel forwhat we have to offer in our

(04:41):
local market and and that's why theycome here. They don't necessarily want to
come to the Quad Cities and experiencelike you know, big chain stuff and
there's nothing wrong with that, thatthey want to kind of get into what
differentiates like our restaurant scene versus maybeothers. So we're certainly very proud of
them, and however we can youelevate their story. We want to be

(05:02):
able to do it. And weare talking with Dave Harrel, president and
CEO of Visit Quad Cities, andwe're talking about Quad City Restaurant Week.
Now when you talk about and thankyou for letting us know about that,
we're going to have over one hundredthat are on the bill. Are you
worried about maybe everybody being able toget it into one week? Do you

(05:23):
want to extend it another week orwhat's going on? Cause that's that's a
lot of places to check out injust a few days. Well, you
know it is. I think wewe obviously promote all of our restaurants and
our culinary scene three hundred and sixtyfive days out of the year, so
you know, visitwidesdies dot com andyou know all of our social media channels

(05:45):
and all of the things that wedo within all of our promotional efforts.
You know, we're promoting wrestlers nodifferent than promoting like attractions and promoting experiences
and outdoors and restaurants and all ofthe assets that make up the QCE.
But this is just a week,or maybe we can put a little more
intentionality and kind of put a bowon why they're so important and It's not

(06:09):
only just a chance to say,hey, come out and go out and
eat one of our fabulous places thatwe've got in the Quad Cities, but
also it's a way to maybe elevatethat industry a little bit. We got
a lot of people that work inthe hospitality industry. If you take that
collectively with restaurants, hotels, peoplethat work in and tourism, it's more
than nine thousand people that work inthe hospitality industry and the Quad Cities,

(06:33):
and so it's a way that wecan also celebrate them and thank them for
all they do to deliver that uniquevisitor experience to the people that are coming
into the market. And it's alot of fun too. It's a little
bit of a bounce back too,because of the last few years. We
don't necessarily everybody knows why people kindof got away from going out to restaurants.

(06:57):
But you're also excited by being ableto have over one hundred that they
can check out. And how manyof us, even though we are we've
been in the Quad Cities our wholelives collectively, we probably will see some
of these places and go I've neverbeen there. And even though you're in
the Quad Cities. Now's the time, or certainly April eight through the fourteenth,

(07:18):
and maybe even a little bit beforethat and a little bit after it.
But April eighth through the fourteenth,get out and enjoy these beautiful places
for the first time, and manymore to follow. Yep, you got
it. And I think that's reallywhat it's all about. I mean,
I think we you know, we'rean economic development engine. I think we're

(07:38):
also storytellers at visit Quad Cities.And the more that we can tell the
story of the Quad Cities and thethings that make it so great, that's
the responsibility and the charge that wehave in our mission. And we want
to make sure that you know,whether you whether you live here or whether
you know you're in the Chicago orMilwaukee, or Omaha or Des Moines or

(08:03):
you pick your market. We wantthe Quad Cities to be internationally recognized.
And however we can promote all ofthe things that we got here to offer,
We're going to continue to do that. Well. It's kind of a
crossroads in a lot of ways.And and one of those perfect examples talk
about a meeting place just happened reallyjust as we're talking to you This is

(08:24):
the day after the curtain went downone last time on the Missouri Valley Women's
basketball tournament. Hoops in the Heartland. And even though some of the the
numbers are kind of right now there, it's always kind of fluid on some
of that stuff. How did thingsbecause I know you were out there for
probably from tip to tip to thatincredible ending that they had yesterday, But

(08:48):
how did things look to you?How do it? Certainly felt like with
the people that I had talked to, the crowds were into it, seemed
to see the support is picking upwell, you know from point of view,
you know, hoops Hoops in theHeartland. It's just been a great
event for Physic Wild Cities to host. And so that's a shared responsibility with

(09:11):
our organization as well as the amazingteam at the Vibrant Arena at the Mark.
And I think this year was certainlyan exciting one. We had some
unbelievable games, went right down tothe wire and then with Drake yesterday beating
Missouri State on a last you know, second shot. What's great about what

(09:31):
we do obviously for the people inthe building, like it was a phenomenal
experience, last second shot all theexcitement of that, but the game was
broadcast on ESPN two, so there'snational television exposure, which is really good
for the QC brand. And withthat last second shot, it went viral,
so everybody was talking about it.It was one of ESPN's you know,

(09:54):
top ten, you know moments,and to get that kind of brand
visibility and that kind of exposure isjust it's phenomenal. And so we concluded
a three year contract with Yesterday's Eventsand we're in the process of you know,
hopefully finding out soon I'd say sometimeby you know, mid April,

(10:18):
maybe late April on the future andwhat that looks like. We've put a
proposal in for twenty twenty five totwenty twenty seven. There are some other
communities that have a lot of interestin the tournament because it's women's college of
basketball. It's so great for economicdevelopment value and the benefits that it brings
to our hospitality industry. But it'salso just a chance for us to really

(10:41):
diversify our sports landscape. It's anopportunity to host those student athletes and administrators
and respective fans from literally twelve differentmember institutions in six different States and the
fact that they're all descending into theQuad Cities for multiple days. But twenty

(11:01):
twenty four was definitely just an amazingyear and couldn't have capped it off even
better with all the excitement in thearena yesterday with Drake, you know,
pulling that out. So you know, very very excited for them. Obviously,
they punched their ticket to March Madness, and it's kind of a back
to back situation for them, knowingthat they won last year they beat Belmont,

(11:24):
and then to come back this yearand have a repeat performance like they
did it is certainly great stuff.And it was you know, anybody that
was at the game was seven minutesleft, you thought, well, this
is boring, and then all ofa sudden, had you decided to go
to your car, you was await, what happened there? So it
was it was still amazing. It'salways nice when you can get a buzzer

(11:45):
beater to wrap up a tournament,and you're right, the exposure was fantastic.
Now, when it comes to yourresponsibility on an event like that,
and there'll be some other ones too, when people are coming in, is
there the first thing that some peopleare doing they're new to the area coming
in for an event like that,should how should they get a hold of
you? Because I would imagine youwere there. But are there other ways

(12:09):
that they could maybe get an ideaon where to go when a tournament like
that pops up. Yes, Sowe worked very closely with the Missouri Valley
I mean literally from the it's it'sa year round kind of effort. So
we have deep connections to all ofthe member institutions. We work very closely
with the Valley staff in terms ofyou know, marketing, promotion, trying

(12:33):
to make their fan bases aware ofall the different opportunities that their fans can
engage with the Quad Cities. Youknow, while they're here, we do
really special things to their coaches.We provide gifts to all the head coaches
and the athletic directors and the seniorwomen administrators and so we have that relationship

(12:56):
and we've had it literally for nineyears. But all of the fans that
are coming in, they're getting informationfrom us. We're literally on site at
Vibrant Arena with our staff literally fromthe time that they tip off through Sunday,
answering questions. Our social media isjust you know, off the chart

(13:16):
in terms of how we're promoting theQuad Cities. So we're working with all
those universities that way, we're disseminatinginformation to their fans so that when they
come here, they're going to knowwhat to do, where to go,
and how to experience the Quad Cities. They also do some pretty unique things
that they call fand hangouts. Sothe schools have places that they've identified that

(13:39):
they promote specifically for their fan basesto kind of go sort of like a
safe haven and whatever school it is, they kind of have their spots,
and those schools select those and andso we're always trying to make sure that
they understand what it is we haveto offer. And it's a regional and

(14:00):
hacked and so even though the eventtakes place at Vibrant Arena, the member
institutions are using hotels on both sidesof the river. You know, we
know that they're eating in restaurants andthey're doing things, you know, not
only in Malene, but but certainlythroughout the entire broader you know, Quad
Cities. And so it's definitely gota regional impact. It's you know,

(14:22):
about a one point nine million dollarsannualized in economic impact on our community,
and that's that's good business. Butthen it also, just like I said
earlier, it just really helps positionthe Quad Cities as a vibrant place to
visit and live, and community programmingis so critical to the things that we're
trying to do on a marketing front, you know, every day. So

(14:46):
these events can really help shape brands, they can build reputation and community perception,
and so hosting them in your backyardis just a really big deal.
And again there's nothing wrong with divisionsor Division two, but we're talking about
and especially the way women's basketball isreally started to build in popularity Division one

(15:09):
in our backyard. Yeah, it'sit's going to be great and hopefully some
good news with an extension or afew more years playing over Vibrant Arena will
be fantastic, Dave, and we'lllook forward to whenever that news happens.
But the main thing that we're talkingto you today, because even though it's
great to brag and be excited aboutwhat happened over the weekend, you got

(15:30):
the next it's the next big thing, and the next big thing is happening
in April. So again for QuadCity Restaurant Week, what can people how
can people find out with especially whenwe've got over one hundred people there that
are one hundred places that people aregoing to be able to test, They're
going to have to start planning theiritinerary as they go around the region.

(15:52):
Yeah, so you know, there'sa real easy place. So we've developed
a website which is just QC restaurantdot com. It's it's really kind of
the hub for all things, youknow, restaurant Week. I mean,
certainly people can always find us onvisitquad Cities dot com, but that QC
Restaurant Week dot com is the placewhere you can get details, you can

(16:14):
kind of learn who those participating restaurantsthat are involved in that week long kind
of series of activities. So thatthat's really the place. And you know
a couple of things that we're doingtoo. We've got to surprise the Server
program, which which we just love, and nominations for that are open like
right now and we'll close March twentyfifth. That's a great way for people

(16:38):
within the industry to recognize those folksthat are really delivering unparalleled customer service.
And so again for us, likeyeah, we want people in the restaurants.
We want people have a great time, but we also want to recognize
the people that are making them sogreat, and that's a lot of the
frontline staff, those people that weall know that we go to that favorite

(16:59):
place and they're there day in,day out, just making you feel,
you know, really special. Wealso want to encourage people you try something
different. You know, you're probablygoing to have like your go tos,
those usual suspects that you just lovegoing to every year, but maybe this
is a chance for you and yourfamily or your buddies go try something a
little bit different, you know,get out of that comfort zone. There's

(17:22):
over one hundred that are participating,so you know, why not try something
new and you never know, youmight discover a place that that you fall
in love with and maybe you'll goback again and again. So some really
exciting things happening in the restaurant weekand can't wait to get here. I
personally like getting out there. Igo do several places. Not only our

(17:45):
team loves to get out there andkind of experience it, also my family
too, So we kind of picksome new spots every year and get out
there and have a great time.Well exciting about that. And again we're
talking to Dave Harrel, President andCEO of Visit Quad Cities Restaurant week April
eighth through the fourteenth. Again,I don't know if you really can rest
until maybe well wait, maybe younever can rest because there's always something else

(18:10):
that's coming up here, Dave,But continued success, and thank you so
much for taking some time to talkto us today in our Quad City form.
Well, thank you. We appreciateeverything that you do and thanks for
sharing our story. It's important.Then we'll be guess him a great day
and thanks to the coverage. Ifyou or your organization would like to be
featured on Quad City for him,please visit the contact page on our station

(18:32):
website. Now back to Pat Lukeand Danny Linhowe. So we're talking to
Kathy Brandt and Scott Nauman, andwe're talking about the American Heart Association and
their walks that are happening all overthe country, but certainly about the Quad
City's heart walking. I'm sure Kathyprobably has a little bit more of a
regional look at the whole things,but guys, let's start talking heart walk.

(18:55):
Yeah, thanks so much, andI'm forever grateful for Kathy and her
leadership. She's been dedicated, volunteerand tremendous leader for the American Heart Association
for many, many years, andit doesn't seem to have a clock or
a timetable at whatever I need.She's there to help our community. And
whether that's education, advocacy, orjust being there for a friendly year to

(19:18):
try to build a sponsorship or somethingfor a company, she's phenomenal. So
we're glad to have her on boardleading our efforts here in the Quad Cities.
Well, and Kathy, I thinkit's interesting as much experience as you
bring, you're like twenty two.Now, how does that happen? You've
been around for And you know whatit probably is. It's because you've been

(19:41):
walking forever. So that's you've kindof reversed the aging process. Well,
you know what, having Scott isour heart walk chair certainly reduces stress.
So I don't age as quickly asI could. So Kathy, why don't
we start with you? Yes weare. The Quad Cities has challenged the
sy up to Dubuque, and soour goal is two hundred thousand dollars this

(20:03):
year. But within the Quad City'sHeart Walk. We very much want it
to be a community inclusive event.We want everybody to be involved. My
goal for the Quad City's Heartwalk isthat so many people are at the walk
that the Quad City shuts down becauseeverybody's at the heart Walk. Heart disease
impacts absolutely everybody. Losing one outof every three Americans heart disease means that

(20:25):
nobody is untouched by heart disease.And we want to create healthier communities.
We want people to live happier lives. So that's what the Heart Walk is
all about. It's getting people upand moving, it's creating a sense of
community, and it's raising funds forresearch, education and training as well as
community awareness. I like how sheslipped in that total. There, Scott,

(20:47):
you know two hundred thousand. Okay, Scott, how are we going
to do that? Well? Wecould get one person to rune a check
for two hundred thousand dollars. Yep, there we go. Now, Mike
could do it right now, guys, but that check would be bad.
So I don't think we can dothat kid right. But honestly, if
everybody does a little bit and everydollar does matter, people are in their
workplaces. They're coming up with creativeways to raise fund Some of the teachers

(21:10):
are doing like a casual Friday wherethey can wear jeans. Some people are
doing chili cookoffs. There are many, many creative ways to raise money.
Some people are just digging into theirpocketbooks and sending us, you know,
amounts. But at the end ofthe day, there is some some place
for everyone within this walk. Imean, when you talk about community,

(21:33):
right, you talk about people comingtogether. So if people have means,
then they can throw some dollars atit. But sometimes they're they're walking in
memory of or in support of asurvivor, and it's very personally meaningful to
that person. So if they gettogether with their other family members or with
their company and they all have theirpersonalized T shirts, that's a heck of

(21:56):
a moment for those folks. Andthat's what matters. You know, you
come to this thing either in needof support or you know, some collegial
relationships, or you're there to offersupport. So it's pretty cool the way
this thing evolves. And when wetalk about the pandemics, it certainly changed

(22:17):
a lot of ways that some ofthese fundraisers were done. Kathy, it
still brought out some great options well, and you brought up the pandemic,
which there's I had just learned somethingrecently. The pandemic did change how we
did things. We have gone backto our in person events, which we
are extremely excited about and really wantto make it a very festive and celebratory

(22:38):
event. Before the pandemic, we'vebeen the number one killer since nineteen nineteen,
and the only reason we weren't innineteen nineteen was because of the Spanish
flu, which was our previous pandemic. But then during COVID we actually got
more heart survivors and stroke survivors becauseof COVID, so we were you know,

(23:00):
you know, at nineteen we werewaiting for the CDC to come out
with the numbers. We were soclose to dropping to the number two spot.
The good news is cancer dropped,and they dropped enough to stay in
the number two spot, because wedon't want to get it by them increasing.
We want to get it by bothof us decreasing. But then in
twenty twenty, our mortality rate fromcardiovascular disease jumped back up to two thousand

(23:21):
and three rates we had been goingdown every year for seventeen years and that
work was undone because of COVID.So we are working on changing that trajectory
back to a decline instead of anincrease, and we are again working towards
getting closer to that number two spot, and eventually we want to get down

(23:41):
to number three, number four andto the point where we don't know heart
disease doesn't exist. But to yourpoint about getting people up and moving,
that's a big part of it.The American culture is just not cooperating with
heart health. People need to eathealthier, people need to be mentally well,
they need to take care of themselves, they need to get good sleep,

(24:02):
and they need to move more.So the Heartwalk embodies all of that,
which is why I think it's sucha such a great event for people
to participate in. All right,Scott, Now we talk about activity and
getting people moving. How can peopleget involved right now to help out and
get some nice momentum for June eighthfor the Quad City version of the Heart
Walk. Yeah. Well, we'velearned a lot over the last couple of

(24:26):
years that I've been partnering with Kathyand kind of shairing the executive leadership team.
But when we got our act togetherlast year and even a little bit
the year before. It's like,wow, if we only we had talked
about this in February March, wewould have had time to get more engagement
and understanding and buy in at theworkplace level. So I think it's critical
right now that we do our jobsto get into companies, to get into

(24:51):
you know, the communication media aswe're doing now, to be able to
make sure that this thing it doesisn't a heart walk coming up and didn't
I hear about that? So it'sdue. It's time to get the word
out as we're doing, and thentry to get people to say, I
see myself as a part of thisevent because you know, prickly without having
a real official entrance fee, youknow, if you have a beautiful day

(25:15):
on June eighth, a wonderful Saturdaymorning, I mean, there's really no
reason why folks couldn't or shouldn't comedown to the Schweebert Park and be a
part of this thing, because,like Kathy said, everyone's life is impacted
by this. You may not knowsomeone with diabetes or you know one of
the others, but everyone knows someonewith cardiovascular disease, and we all found

(25:37):
that out with this ultra heavy snowstormwe had this past winter, the one
major event. I bet we allknow someone that had an issue with that
shoveling. And you know, herewe are now trying to say did those
folks were they moving enough, werethey active enough? Did they even know
that they were ticking time bomb?So that's one of the great things that

(25:59):
this event allows us to do isto make a difference, raise some money,
get involved in one way shape orforms, either through the corporate level,
or individuals can have team as well, or you know, their family
can be a team. So I'lllet Kathy talk about some of the URLs
and some of the ways to registera team because she's so fluent with that.

(26:22):
Anybody that wishes to register for theheart Walk, whether you're going to
be organizing your team or just wantto walk, just goes to Quad Citiesheartwalk
dot org and you click on registerand join the team, and then you
can get started from there. Ifanybody has questions on that website is my
email and my phone number, andanybody can reach out to me directly with

(26:42):
any questions, concerns, or requests, and there is one thing I'd like
to bring up that hasn't been broughtup yet is this year we will be
celebrating the American Heart Association's one hundredthanniversary of saving and improving lives. Wow.
So this is going to be Andthe cool thing is is our heart
walk is on June eighth. Monday, June tenth is actually our Founder's Day.

(27:06):
So we want this to be thebiggest, best heartwalk the Quad Cities
has ever seen. We want toget as many people there as possible.
We want to celebrate one hundred years, and we want to come together so
that we enter the next hundred yearsas strong as possible. When okay,
but now wait a minute before youcontinue with that. I know some people
will go when you say Quad CitiesHeartwalk dot org, some people will go

(27:30):
QC or they'll abbreviate it. Sowell, is there a default or do
we want to make sure that wego we spell out quad Cities to get
into that good point. Yes,it is quad Cities, spell out it
is plural, so it's QUA,D C, I, T I E
S Heartwalk dot org and Scott kindof what you were bringing up to,

(27:52):
it's strengthened numbers. I mean wecan we in celebrating kind of getting back
out here again and being able toenjoy with large gatherings. That's large gatherings
with big groups from the whole office. In some cases, some of those
offices are just now getting back tocoming back to the office. So let's
not everybody. Everybody kind of gotused to maybe being at home, but

(28:17):
now let's celebrate getting back to seeingsome of our co workers now by enjoying
a beautiful day helping out the HeartAssociation. Yeah, you hit the nail
on the head. We're just ata college this past week talking about being
able to be a part of somethingthat's not purely transactional. Go in,
go to class, you know,say how to a buddy and leave.

(28:37):
But this is part of something thatwe're doing together and that translates to workplaces.
The cities are all involved. Wehave some logistics folks that are helping
us with the details of the walk, and there are a lot of the
administrative assistance from our very own quadcity communities. So the actual cities.
Mayor Tomes was there last year.Mayor Gallagher Decker Plane City Administrator. Mayor

(29:02):
Madsen was at one of our executiveleader meetings and then we know we've got
presence from Molina. We're working withthese Molene to get everyone above. So
you talk about the Quad Cities HeartWalk, it's not just because it's in
Davenport and starts and ends in RockIsland. I mean this is a more
major effort and issue, and webelieve that we have nothing to do but

(29:26):
grow this thing because the only reasonit hasn't been a meteoric increase in funds
is just lack of awareness. Andnow we can control that, can't we
stee So again, we want toencourage as many people as possible and it's
open to anybody and everybody there's wewant to see everybody from the surrounding communities
as well as from the five quadCities. And to register and get more

(29:49):
information or to find my contact information, you go to Quad Citiesheartwalk dot org
quad Cities Heartwalk Org. You've beenlistening to Quad City Forum, a weekly
community service program produced by iHeartRadio.If you were your nonprofit organization would like

(30:10):
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