Quad Cities - As Sunday, June 21 came to a close, local museums reported increased visitation during the first annual Quad Cities Museum Week that ran June 13 through 21. Due to the success of the event, plans are underway for next year's event.

Museums reported anywhere from a 1% to 40% increase in visitation.  Most notably, the small museums recorded the highest percentage increase in visitation during the event.

Buffalo Bill Museum & River Pilot's Pier reported a 40% increase in visitation as did Dan Nagle Walnut Grove Pioneer Village, Alexander Brownlie Sod House, and the Buffalo Bill Cody Homestead.  These museums teamed up to create a Cody Trail passport that people could have punched at each location for a chance to win a gift basket.

The Deere-Wiman House welcomed 621 people during their first-ever tunnel tours.  Black Hawk State Historic Site had 94 people attend their tours, and Rock Island Arsenal Museum visitation was up 21%.  The Colonel Davenport reported strong numbers for their Pioneer Days & Buckskinners Rendezvous.

Additionally, the Family Museum had 4,471 visitors during their event up 1.5%, and Iowa 80 Trucking Museum was up nearly 50%.  All museums agreed the event was a success and brought many new visitors through their doors.

"I am so pleased that the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau brought area museums together for Quad Cities Museum Week, and that I had the opportunity to work with museums I had never partnered with before," says Elly Gerdts, Marketing Coordinator, Family Museum. "When you group all of these terrific entities together, it really shows the amazing collection of museums the Quad Cities has to offer its community and visitors."

A museum geocache was also part of the celebration and has become a popular new treasure hunt for many geocache enthusiasts. Twelve museums participated in the geocache which involves people using GPS to find hidden cache boxes located outdoors around the museum's property.  The boxes contain little prizes and participants log in when they found the caches. The geocaches will remain in place indefinitely and you can still participate by going on www.geocaching.com.

"The Iowa 80 Trucking Museum received many positive comments from our visitors during Museum Week. Many from local and surrounding communities had visited us for the first time," says Donna Winter, Iowa 80 Trucking Museum. "It's all due to the hard work and collaborative efforts of all those who made Museum Week happen. I personally have experienced a renewed enthusiasm for our local attractions."

The website for Quad Cities Museum Week received 5,000 visits from May 22 through June 21, and over 10,500 page views. Over 2,600 people used a mobile device to access the site. Visitors to the website were from the Quad Cities region followed by visitation from the cities of Chicago, Omaha, Madison, and Milwaukee.

Stories on the event appeared in several newspapers and magazines outside the Quad Cities region including Group Tour Magazine, a popular trade publication read by Group Tour Planners that bring tour buses to the Quad Cities.

"The Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau is ready to begin work on the 2016 Quad Cities Museum Week, and to continuing this great partnership," says Charlotte Doehler-Morrison, VP Marketing & Communications Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau. "This event shows what can happen when area attractions work together towards a common goal that everyone has a vested interest in."

Museums impact our community in a variety of ways. They play a key role in education, job creation, tourism, economic development and more.  They bring quality-of-life to our community and to those whole live here and visit.  In fact, 78% of all U.S. leisure travelers participate in cultural or heritage activities such as visiting museums.  These travelers spend 63% more on average than other leisure travelers.

In the Quad Cities region, there are some 30 museums that are available to residents throughout the year.  A total of 21 museums participated in this year's Quad Cities Museum Week.  The group hopes to increase participation in 2016.

Quad Cities - On June 13-21, more than twenty museums from across the Quad Cities region will welcome visitors for a week-long adventure of fun activities, great discoveries, and exploration.  Don't miss the first-ever Quad Cities Museum Week!  Information on participating museums and their events can be found at www.qcmuseumweek.com.

Quad Cities Museum Week is for everyone!  Enjoy this celebration of the region's museums and participate in special activities, exhibits and promotions during this fun-filled week.  Each museum features its own, unique theme, history, galleries, and exhibits.  Come and discover these wonderful gems!

Area museums also encourage you to tweet and post about your museum experiences on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.  Use hashtag #QCMUSEUMS!

What you can expect to find:

·        Underground Tunnel Tour - Deere-Wiman House

·        Emancipation and Its Legacies Exhibit - Davenport Freemont Library

·        Driving Tour - Buffalo Bill Museum, Buffalo Bill Cody Homestead, Dan Nagle Walnut Pioneer Village, Alexander Brownlie Sod House

·        Behind the Scenes Art Tours - Augustana College - Augustana Teaching Museum of Art

·        Catich Gallery Art Exhibition - St. Ambrose University

·        Buckskinners Rendezvous and House Tours - Colonel Davenport House

·        Archives & Communities' Education Display - Davenport School Museum

·        Rainforest Exhibit and Kids Yard Sale - Family Museum

·        Highlight Tour, Free Family Day, PechaKucha Night presentation, Print Sale - Figge Art Museum

·        A Look at the Book Exhibit - German American Heritage Center

·        Guided House Tours - Hauberg Center

·        History Presentations - Black Hawk State Historic Site - John Hauberg Indian Museum

·        Kids Scavenger Hunt and truck films - Iowa 80 Trucking Museum

·        Presidents of the Continental Congress manuscript exhibit - Karpeles Manuscript Museum

·        Rock Island Arsenal Exhibit, D-Day 3D Documentary, Family Science Night - Putnam Museum

·        Masonic Temple and chiropractic museum self-guided -  Palmer College of Chiropractic

·        Made in Rock Island County Exhibit - Atkinson-Peek Historical House- Rock Island County Historical Society

·        "Vietnam War" Exhibit - Rock Island Arsenal Museum

"Even if you can't make one of the special events or activities taking place, the museums are open and ready to welcome you all during Museum Week and throughout the year," says Charlotte Doehler-Morrison, VP Marketing & Communications, Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau.  "This is a great opportunity to spend time exploring our wonderful museums with families and friends."

Quad Cities Museum Week was created through collaboration between area museums and the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau.  The event is designed to showcase the wealth of museums in the Quad Cities region and to create a greater awareness about what each museum has to offer to a variety of audiences throughout the year.

Quad Cities - Communities across America celebrate National Travel and Tourism Week from May 2-10 in order to shine a light on what travel means to jobs, economic growth, and personal well-being.

"Just look at the numbers.  Travel supports 15 million jobs in America, including almost 8,000 jobs right here in the Quad Cities," said Joe Taylor, president/CEO of the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau.  "This week, we are celebrating what travel means to our community as well as our 25th anniversary year, and we call on everyone?from elected officials to local residents?to join us in saluting this important industry."

Local travel employs a prosperous and diverse workforce, from airline and hotel employees, to restaurant, attraction and retail workers, and supports industry sectors such as construction, manufacturing and finance.  Over the last year, visitors spent over $800 million in the Quad Cities and generated over $12 million in local tax receipts.

The national figures are equally remarkable:

·        $2.1 trillion in economic output and $927.9 billion in direct travel-­?related spending in the U.S. by domestic and international travelers in 2014.

·        $141.5 billion generated in federal, state and local tax revenues in 2014.

·        15 million American jobs supported?8 million direct tourism jobs and 7 million indirect and induced jobs?good jobs with good pay that cannot be outsourced.

In the Quad Cities in 2014-2015, over 400 hotel rooms were added from four new hotels openings:  Holiday Inn Express & Suites and Holiday Inn & Suites in Davenport, Hilton Garden Inn in Bettendorf, and Holiday Inn Express in Moline.

Another new initiative from the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau (QCCVB) is Quad Cities Museum Week on June 13-21 with 21 local museums involved offering events and activities.  Find the details at www.qcmuseumweek.com

Also the opening of the Quad-City Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday in its new permanent location at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport.  This is a collaborative effort between the Quad-City Times, Quad City Sports Commission, and Quad Cities River Bandits.

Travel can also have a positive effect on personal well-being.  A recent study by the U.S. Travel Association found that Americans left 429 million vacation days unused (the most in nearly 40 years) and forfeited $52.4 billion in time-off benefits.  If workers took just one more day off each year, travel would generate $73 billion annually for the economy.

The Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau staff has put together a new video for National Travel and Tourism Week highlighting a few of the fun places to go in the Quad Cities.

Video Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaKuTmzqW5Y

"Travel contributes to the fabric of America and continues to do wonders for our businesses and personal lives," said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, the umbrella organization representing the travel industry in the U.S.  "This weeklong celebration should extend to every day of the week to strengthen further our dynamic industry."

The QCCVB is the official tourism destination marketing and management organization for the Quad Cities region.  The organization serves the tourism interests of Scott County in Iowa and Rock Island, Mercer, Warren and Henderson Counties in Illinois. The QCCVB increases visitor expenditures and overnight stays through strategic sales, marketing, and services to customers, members and communities.  www.visitquadcities.com

Moline, Ill. - What starts here, changes the world one student at a time. Black Hawk College is proud to host the 2015 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Judging Conference, a three-day event at the iWireless Center in Moline, Ill. expected to see more than 1,000 attendees from across the United States between April 8 and 10.

NACTA is an organization committed to advancing the scholarship of teaching and learning in agricultural, environmental, natural and life sciences, and this annual judging contest will bring that commitment to the heart of the Midwest in 2015.

"This conference is really an investment in the future of our agricultural young leaders." said Andrew Larson, an organizer of the 2015 NACTA Judging Conference and a recruiter for the Agriculture Department at Black Hawk College. "Our event will provide collegiate and high school students the opportunity to learn and develop valuable agricultural skill sets, while also getting the chance to network with key industry leaders and companies."

Attendees will range from 4-H members at the high school level to agriculture students at the collegiate level, and the main focus of the conference will be the judging competitions, which cover everything from soils and agribusiness to crops and livestock management.

The conference will also include the first Agricultural Networking Fair on Thursday, April 9, sponsored by Pfister Seeds. This networking fair is designed to provide participants and volunteers valuable opportunities to engage with industry leaders like John Deere and also give participants additional learning experiences in a unique environment.

Black Hawk College, along with many conference sponsors, are also organizing group activities in the Quad Cities to involve students and volunteers when they are not participating in a contest. These activities include a tour of the John Deere World Headquarters, a visit to the Niabi Zoo and a tour of the Figge Art Museum.

Interested participants can register for the conference, competitions and group activities on the 2015 NACTA Judging Conference website at www.BHCNACTA.com. Also posted online, a complete schedule of events for the weekend.