Grand Excursion success
Grand Excursion 2004: An Overwhelminl! Success
The Grand Excursion 2004 was an overwhelming success with over 60,000 people attending events in
the Port of Dubuque and all over the City. The results speak for themselves:
Grand Opera House: 200 people purchased tickets for the special Monday evening performance of
Joseph.
Five Flags Theatre: 750 people purchased tickets to the special performances of the Tales of Mark
Twain.
National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium: Had a gate on Monday of2,500 people which
was their second largest single day attendance since opening.
Arboretum and Botanical Gardens: Over 1,500 people attended the Sunday night concert and
motorcoach groups came out both days to tour the gardens.
Four Mounds: The River swing and ropes course had consistent visitation by local and out of town
visitors both days of the event.
Mines of Spain: Local and out of town visitors participated in special tours at the Mines of Spain.
Dubuque River Rides: Additional cruises were offered and filled in addition to the Regional cruises
offered by the event.
Transportation: Over 40,000 people used the free remote transportation and trolleys during the 2-day
event.
Property Sale: A local realtor sold a lot priced over $100,000 to an out of town participant on one of
the Grand Excursion cruises.
Catfish Festival: 30,000 paid admissions were received by this festival which is a record turn out for
this event.
Grand Excursion Boat ticket sales: The event exceeded 36,000 tickets sold for the event.
Retail: Downtown retailers thought that sales during the event were slow but saw immediate return
visits trom many people who mentioned they had come for the GE 2004 but didn't have time to do all
they wanted so they decided to come back.
HotellMotel: All lodging facilities ran excellent occupancy on the Sunday and Monday night event
and were pleasantly surprised with the success of the event!
Media Coverage: London Times, Des Moines Register, Midwest Living Magazine, AAA Home and
Away, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Quad City Times, Milwaukee Journal, KWWL,
KCRG, KGAN and all area radio stations as well as many other AP articles that appeared across the
country.
In-Kind Media donations: Over $100,000 worth of print and electronic media was donated to make
the event a success.
Volunteers: Over 900 volunteers worked the 2-day event.