Convention and Visitors Bureau Quarterly Report
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DUBUQUE AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE-
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CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU
MEMO
To:
Terry Duggan, Mayor
Mike Van Milligen, City Manager
Jan Hess, Administrative Assistant
Dubuque County Supervisorso
City Council Members o~-
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Greg Maim, Chair
Sue Czeshinski, Director
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Re:
Quarterly Report-August through September, 2000
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Date: October 4,2000
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The Dubuque Convention and Visitors Bureau has had a busy quarter working to attract
individual travelers, group tour travelers, and servicing incoming meetings and
conventions as well as continuing work on a wayfinding system, hosting tourism
industry meetings, continue work on Riverfront Development, and targeting travel
writers for favorable coverage on Dubuque.
The Independent Marketing Committee has continued to place advertising in Chicago,
Milwaukee, and Des Moines to attract consumer travelers from those markets. The
most favorable response to advertising has been through the dubuquechamber.com
web-site. The Convention and Visitors Bureau has placed advertising in our major
markets on web-sites to encourage potential travelers to use the web-site as a travel
tool. This has been extremely effective as web-site usage has been extremely strong.
Approximately 70% of the inquiries on the web-site are tourism related including
lodging, attractions, entertainment, and festival information that has been requested.
The Bureau will continue to monitor web-site usage for future promotions. Consumer
ads have also been placed in print media in newspapers on a monthly basis.
The Group Tour Marketing Committee has been planning promotions for the year. Most
recently Carrie Koelker attended the National Tour Association board meeting which
was held in Des Moines. Industry members from Dubuque attended this showcase of
Iowa destinations and were very well received. The Bureau also had six booth spaces
at the Iowa Bankers Conference in Des Moines this year. The Industry members coop
six booth spaces to create a bigger image for Dubuque, overall. The theme of the booth
was "Dubuque, A Destination For All Seasons." An entire row of booth spaces were
devoted to each of our industry members and the CVB showcasing our members in all
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770 TOWN CLOCK PLAZA P.O. BOX 705 DUBUQUE, IA 52004-0705 (319) 557-9200 FAX (319) 557-1591
e-mail: chamber@mwci.net web site: http://www.dubuquechamber.com
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four seasons of the year. Bank Club Planners were very impressed with the overall
marketing efforts that were put forth at this Marketplace. The Bureau continues to work
with the Delta Queen Steamboat Company to accommodate landing which has been
moved from the Rivers Edge Plaza to Hawthorne Street while the finishing touches are
placed on the Rivers Edge Plaza.
The Convention Marketing Committee continues to work on the "Hometown Hero
Campaign" to enhance marketing efforts and focus on local contacts from meeting and
conference business. The local contacts have been the most effective way of attracting
meeting and conference business to Dubuque. Dubuque has been fortunate to host a
number of medium and larger sized conferences this year including our most recent
conference, League of Cities which was a very successful conference with over 850
attendees creating a tremendous economic impact for the Dubuque area. Dubuque
rolled out the red carpet by providing registration assistance, a Dubuque information
booth showcasing the CVB booth and America's River booth as well as distributing
welcome signs throughout the community to welcome this conference. Thanks for the
efforts of all you that were "Home Town Hero's" and assisted Dubuque in bringing the
League of Cities back.
The Dubuque Convention & Visitors Bureau has also been instrumental in partnering
with the City of Dubuque in coordinating the next steps of the directional
signs/wayfinding system for our community. The Bureau has been actively researching
the efforts of other communities nationwide to determine the most effective way to
address directional sign needs for our community. The information from all these
communities was compiled and recently given in a presentation to four staff members
from the Iowa Department of Transportation to encourage them to assist us in moving
forward in our development of a wayfinding system for Dubuque. City staff and CVB
staff met with these IDOT representatives on September 26 and further discussed an
effective wayfinding system and the implementation of a system of this type in
Dubuque. The meeting was very productive and both organizations look forward to
moving forward in this process.
The CVB hosted the first of four quarterly tourism industry meetings for all those
impacted by tourism in the Dubuque area. Approximately fifty leaders attended the
morning breakfast hosted by the Dubuque Greyhound Park & Casino focusing on the
past and the future of the Convention & Visitors Bureau. Sue Czeshinski gave a detailed
report on the past five years of marketing efforts and results created by the CVB and a
glimpse of the marketing plan for the next three years. These meetings were a result of
long range planning efforts conducted by the Convention & Visitors Bureau Advisory
Board in an effort to connect all tourism industry members and CEO's as part of
Dubuque's bright tourism future.
Riverfront Development efforts continue to move forward as the Riverfront Development
Work Group, Vision Iowa Committee, and local campaign efforts move forward. The
Riverfront Work Group continues to address master planning of the Fourth Street
Peninsula area and other issues related to the riverfront and Dubuque as a whole.
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Vision Iowa Committee continues to monitor the progress of the board and prepare
applications for the Dubuque project. The CVB continues to partner with the Mississippi
River Museum and the City to wrap up the local campaign for the first phase of
Riverfront Development to complete our local goal of $5.35 million.
The Travel Writers Committee continues to meet and plan more effective ways of
encouraging favorable editorial coverage on Dubuque. The Travel Writers continues to
employ Bacon's clipping service to monitor articles that are written about the Dubuque
area. Most recent articles this quarter are enclosed for your review. The Bureau also
hosted two freelance travel writers. Both writers are considering stories on the Dubuque
area as the result of the Bureaus attendance at the National Travel Media Showcase in
Atlantic City. Ten of the writers are very interested in a familiarization tour of our area
during 2001. The Bureau will follow up with these writers and schedule trips for them to
Dubuque.
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Celebrate Fall and
the Harvest Season
in Dubuque
The arrival of autumn signals the
perfect opportunity to see the way
Dubuque celebrates the harvest
season-join in and attend one festival
after another!
Labor Day weekend kicks off
this celebration season with both
Germanfest at the Dubuque Arboretum
and Botanical Gardens and Dubuque
and All That Jazz at Town Clock Plaza
on Main Street. Music, beer, and ethnic
food will abound at both. The Dubuque
Symphony Orchestra takes up the
celebration baton with the Labor Day
Weekend Pops Concert and Fireworks
Extravaganza at the Hawthorne Boat
Landing on September 3. The Annual
labor Day Parade takes over Main Street
for most of the morning on September
4. Kids, make sure to bring a bag to
collect the goodies from the floats!
The following weekend, September
8-10, is Riverfest at Washington Park,
6th and Locust. The event includes a
street parade, flea market, craft fair, and,
of course, lots of food and music. The
Dragon Boat Festival is held that same
weekend at Riverview Park. Teams of
highly enthusiastic paddlers race
brightly painted, hand-carved dragon
boats on the Mississippi.
The annual Apple Festival Weekend
is held at Czipar's Apple Orchard on
September 23 and 24. Festivities
include all sorts of free apple sampling,
freshly pressed apple cider, home baked
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goods, caramel apples, a flea market and a
myriad of arts and crafts. Dyersville holds
its Annual Festival of the Arts on this
weekend as well.
The weekend of October 6-8 begins
with a special Beer Tasting Cruise on the
Spirit of Dubuque on Saturday evening.
Plan to spend Saturday and Sunday at
Cable Car Square's Annual Fall Open
House and Internationally Sanctioned
Chili Cook-off. There will be apple
bobbing, pumpkin painting, lots of chili,
and a fine opportunity to visit the 30
boutiques, antique shops, and eateries in
the Cable Car Square area.
What would autumn be without a
chance to view the breathtaking fall fol iage
along the Mississippi River? The Spirit of
Dubuque offers the perfect way to capture
those memories with special Fall Foliage
Cruises from late September through midi
late October.
Cap off your autumn fe~tivitjes with
Halloween aboard the William M. Black,
3rd Street Ice Harbor. River ghosts, ghouls,
and goblins give out goodies as children
and children-at-heart wind through this
national landmark dredgeboat.
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Midwestern antiquing is as unique as
the period of history it often represents. From
pre-Civil War through the modern age, tools
to achieve our progress are among the finds
in many of Dubuque's local antique shops.
Just south of Dubuque in Maquoketa,
Banowetz Antiques offers the finest in
furniture and remarkable preserved items
from the past. To the north, in Balltown,
Breitbach's Restaurant takes you back to a
simpler time with fine traditional food and
antique tools and furnishings as decorations.
To the west, in Dyersville, the National
Farm Toy Museum brings leisure time
memories to life, and Plaza Antique Mall
showcases its many treasures in a lovingly
preserved city theater, complete with the
original marquee.
In the city of Dubuque, the Ice Harbor
Emporium on historic lower Main Street
offers furniture, glassware, and much more.
Hometiques displays are sure to satisfy any
antique decorating needs, blending the old
and the new, creating the perfect touch.
Need advice on your antiques and
collectibles? Antique Trader Publications of
Dubuque has been assisting readers for over
40 years. Their expert weekly publication,
The Antique Trader, offers the serious
antiquer outstanding resource material and
up-to-date information.
Whether you're a serious a collector or
a "weekend warrior," Dubuque is a great
place to start your next antiquing trip!
CONTINUED...
Dubuque's Dragon
Boat Festival draws
on rich heritage
The Mississippi River will soon teem
with 40-foot, brightly decorated boats
adorned with frightening dragon heads
and scaly tails and full of enthusiastic,
sweaty paddlers as they beat the water to
a froth in team competition during the
Dubuque Dragon Boat Festival, Septem-
ber 9 and 10 at Riverview Park.
Teams from the Midwest and Canada
will race in head-to-head competition as
fans sit along the sandy riverbank and
@
DUBUQUE AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
CONVENTION AND "'SllORS BUREAU
770 TOWN CLOCK PLAZA
P.O. BOX 705
DUBUQUE, IA 52004-0705
Editor's Note: This newsletter is intended
as an update on the latest in the Dubuque
area. Dubuque is a community of 62,000
located where Iowa meets J/Jinois and
Wisconsin. These articles are copyright
free and may be reprinted as they appear
or may be used as background material
for your own article on Dubuque.
.....
cheer on their favorite team. On board each
boat are 18 paddlers straining to the beat of a
drummer, kept on course by a "sweep" who
steers the boat with a paddle, and a flag
catcher who grabs the flag at the finish line.
The festival is about more than just racing,
however, as each team performs a cultural
skit about their home, and all partake in the
ritual of "Awakening the Dragon" which
originated when dragon boat racing began
about 2,000 years ago.
Traditional boats were made of teak and
highly decorated. Today's boats are made of
fiberglass which makes them lighter and
easier to handle. The boats are 40 feet long
and four feet wide.
The course is approximately 300 meters
in length. Competition is between teams in
the mixed division, which means that er
numbers of men and women are paddler" .Jr
each boat. The open division consists of
teams with any combination of male and
female paddlers.
According to Paddler magazine, dragon
boat racing is the second most popular sport
in the world due to its extreme popularity in
Asia. There is an International Dragon Boat
Federation and national Dragon Boat
Associations in the U.S., Canada, England,
Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Prsrt Std
U.S. Postage
PAID
Dubuque, IA
Permit No. 69
Germanfest-Dubuqq
Botanical Gardens.
Dubuque Symphony Orch
Pops Concert. Ham
Washington Park, 6
Music, food, crafts, flea.
on Boat Festival. Riverview
ercy Park 2000 Gala. The Aren
IL. Music and food.