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Economy

Tourism Summer Preview

Planet Funk

Marines, grocers, and fire chiefs will all help boost the Quad Cities economy this summer. They're among the many groups scheduled to hold conventions, tournaments, and meetings here.

Lynn Hunt, Vice President of the Quad Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, says the list begins next week with a college golf tournament, and continues through August with a reunion for an Army historical society. 

And the attendees will have an economic impact of about 6.4 million dollars.

"We use a formula that says an overnight stay guest will be about 150 dollars per person per day. And if somebody is coming in for a day trip. that's closer to 75-80 dollars per person per day."

Credit QCCVB
coming in June

Events will range from the about 300 people attending the convention of the Iowa Grocery Industry Association, to more than 1,000 during a girls fastpitch softball tournament involving 120 teams.

Hunt says for the first time in a long time, the Annual NewsRadio WHO Tractor Ride will visit the Quad Cities in June, featuring 450 tractors. 

"Doing the routes and getting  them across the river and making sure that we have all of the police folks on board between Scott County and into Rock Island County. These tractors will go out in group  of 20-25 at a time, going 8 miles per hour. There's a lot of logistics associated with that."

Other events will include the Coca Cola Collectors Club convention, and Planet Funk, a Quad Cities comics and entertainment convention, featuring comics, toys, anime, and games. 

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.