The Cities | John Deere Classic/Birdies for Charity & Mississippi Valley Blues Festival | WQPT

production funding for the cities is provided by a grant from the doris and
victor day foundation
it's proven to be money in the bank not only for businesses but for charities
across western illinois and eastern iowa
and are you ready for the blues in the cities
the cities don't have an n_b_a_ team like the bulls
all's a major league baseball team like the cubs or the socks n_h_l_ team
like the blackhawks but
we do have a p_g_a_ tournament that gets national attention plays a big role in
the careers of golfers on the tour for john deere classic starts right after
the fourth of july and this year could be historic not only for one of the
players but also for more than five hundred area charities how
let's find out
joining me know is john deere classic director claire peterson and the head of
birdies for charity christy ketchum how you guys doing go you know you are getting
down these last few days but it's almost also hat
at its most everything as far as the planning stages for golf tournment already
done by now
well for the most part for uh... you know in a business it's ah... held
outdoors so there's always uh... some variables that you can't prepare for but
uh... for all those things that we have control of uh...
or a pretty good shape although you know even
four days before the start of tournament so they're still planning to do for one
of things that you don't have a lot of control over is necessarily to people
are participating that the pros that are going to be playing
uh... to tell me what what the line-up is so far that you most proud of
well they have uh... until friday before tournament week before five o'clock to
commit so yeah there still might be some
uh... surprises goods surprise out there but
uh... we've got of course uh... steve stryker the number five ranked player in
the world highest ranking american in the world
uh... trying to do what no one's done before when three in a row
uh... we've got a young player and jason day
uh... he's finished second at the masters in the u_s_ opening as a sponsor
exemption when he was an eighteen year old and now he's back
how we've got five past british open champions including the last two
released a's and one in twenty ten
and rick jenkins and zach johnson the seven
masters champion how we've got uh... eight players have one
tournaments in the last year twenty two players have one term is the last two
years
uh... some uh... exciting young sponsor exemptions are two hundred fifty six
players and now all of them are are part of the world's best as there is a part
of the sponsors exemptions in some the amateurs they get to play sometimes
that's the most exciting people to watch the ones that you may not know much
about
well it's a chance uh... to uh...
uh... learn or meet become aware of uh... they did next generation a great
players i mentioned jason day as an example he made his first professional
check your in two thousand six
now he is a number nine ranked player in the world and almost one and two majors this
year
uh... lucas glover a couple years ago
uh... we won the u_s_ open he sponsor exemption of arce coming out of
college in the you remember came back after one u_s_ open zach johnson
i was a sponsor exemption we try every year to uh...
uh... invite two or three young players that we
respective and think you have a great future and that we've had a pretty good
track record a fun thing is to watch some of the galleries for dealing with
the amateurs or some of the local put people are planning
it's just a great experience of the seeing the crowds the quad cities crowds
the quad cities crowd getting in to this is kind of magic
well it is it's one of the things that has been consistent over forty one-year
history as you mentioned uh... it's our major league sports
and that people in town of always that come out and rooted for their favorite
or
uh... players as you mentioned that have some
ties to the quad cities brady shall as an example
uh... when he played here for two years uh... on a sponsor exemption they made
the cut we invited him back again
and a huge uh... gallery roundup
um... but that's really what were we're very proud of his support we've had
uh... from a spectator standpoint an i know we are going to talk about the birdies for charity
event
uh... the uh...
support that the community has had for a that effort there's also a pretty pretty
exciting and
and one of the proud of i mean you have love for golf for quite some
time and been a part of the tournament
intimately for the last few years and he just seen your appreciation for the
game and it's players and support staff grow
you know it's gratifying i think is to see the game of golf in this event
the understood embraced by the community has actually uh... caddy back in
nineteen seventy crow valley when they had the first tournament
by my brother caddy for bob gobbi b uh... four years after he won the masters
their so we've uh... seen it for many years i don't think everyone has always
understood what a great game it is a game for a lifetime
game of honesty and integrity
uh... but also what it means for a community it uh... brings twenty five
million dollars in the town in business
it believes four to five million dollars behind for charities
uh... it's uh... it's up to be really uh... proud of i think if you're a
member of the quad cities and it's an amazing
success story in the p_g_a_ tour if you look at
those cities where the p_g_a_ tour goes
every week
there are many other matter for seven five thousand people uh... so we
have uh... a lot to be thankful for in a lot to be proud of
well i'm one of the birdies for charity
you've been waiting for a jump in because i mean the tournament
clair was saying this is a small as a venue as far as the market size
any birdies for charity is one of those programs
that the quad cities
embarked on
single-handedly has now spread to other tournaments
we do have a number of other p_c_ events that do use the birdies for
charity program were certainly proud that the people of the quad cities do
embrace our program and we continue to be the number one birdies for charity program
we've got about six hundred participating charities that benefit
from are efforts and we've got a wonderful title sponsor john deere who
supports the program and allows us to get one hundred percent back to every
charity every pledge dollar made goes back to the designated does need a charity
com along with additional bonus contributions that we put in top of that
we said almost six hundred thousand five hundred so it shows that the need is
there and the number of charities are growing right and they're not just quad cities area
to be reach here it is i mean this is a golf tournament reach out
not only in attracting people to come here but also sending the money out
right how we can consider it regional
john deere classic community out pretty much anyone that would
probably drive a few hours to come watch that on would watch the john deere classic
those are the same type of charities that would probably participate in the
program they've heard about it for years they understand the program and no that
great benefits for them to be involved never ask you this but have you ever
played i mean do you know the birides and in the nineteen hundred two
thousand
would you have a foul proof way in taking the right number of biridies no
stuff you make a good guess
typically in the eighteen hundred sixty thousand range so what
people pick their birthdays and things like that
um... you know
sixteen hundred probably the lowest it's been last few years as a set tpc
but
it's really just a lucky guess and that's part of the funis just taking a
class at it because it's so many different ways as weather related as
well that's definitely a you know if you have rain issues rain delays definitely
affect the number birdies score
uh... a lot of variables and you go out and play golf yourself some days you score higher
you score lower that definitely um...
when they can be very different from the next my scores always higher strangely
clair i interupted you no no no i was just saying that we had twenty ten in
twenty ten has arrived and that uh...
generated a lot of
correct guesses uh... and uh... it had to get whittled down before that one
person gets through the key on the car
so you're saying twenty eleven not a bad guess it's not original but it's bad guess
you know fifty nine zero six days in field this year but
yesterday there were a lot of birdies last year krisiteien tell me about that
because not only does the charity get the money
the people who do guessed correctly it comes down to a to a keychain doesn't
right exactly
clair mentioned last year with a number was very popular out twenty ten
was the number of birdies scored obviously inspite in twenty ten a lot of people guessed that number
what we do is we have to get down to it smaller pool of people so we do a
random
computerized uh... drawing in the office narrow it down to five final contestants
and invite them all to keep tpc for uh... a big kind of event
where they all get a key
and they ought to take it turned out try to start the car and one lucky person
has the right key and well leave with a car that day there's always been kind
of interesting some of the people that won uh... the famous one of course is father
mirabella winning one year
donating uh... to the school i believe of other people of one individual
donated became a great
family passed on to a child or something like that is
always there great stories
not just these golfers but the other people participate even the people are
donated for birdies right what you know what we seem to find out every year is
that everyone
wins the cars and everyone that is some
in our final group of people most of those have donated to multiple charities
many of those people are on the board of a charity or charities are very involved
in the non-profit community so think really what that says is that uh... quad
cities in general is just very involved in our non-profit community
and um... it's great to see the people that are so involved actually make
a lucky guess
um... have chance to win a car was as we were saying at the beginning this is a chance for
one of the players to make history steve stryker of going hopefully for
three-term row uh...
we've had winners that's uh...
to champions that come back and just really represent themselves
and this tournament well
steve stryker what ul
uh... steve is one of us you know good midwesterner guy
uh... the best uh... example of that is just what happened uh... and media day
uh... few weeks back
land he won jack nicholson's event
uh... in columbus ohio
uh... there was a rain delay so they didn't get done until late he knew that
the
was scheduled to drive from madison wherehe lives
uh... to the quad cities but three half-hour drive to be there at ten
o'clock for media day
as i watched him on sunday knowing that
end time was being extended and not knowing when he was going to get back to
madison is using to get back to media that night
i thought maybe time to be here for media day
but uh...
no phone call no tax no doubt
the next morning
uh... at six forty five i'm on the road you know see that ah...
ten o'clock and there is was
and uh... i don't know that
there too many
players on tour that would have kept
that commitment we certainly would've understood
but he understands
big a deal as we've already talked about this is there were seventy five
uh... media represent ithere for about a two hour radius from chicago in the
de moines
east and west
and uh...
that's the kind of guy that is carrying out flag carried it for two years
he's also one of the greatest athletes and in this sport the top-ranked
american in the world
uh...
so
to have uh... the combination of uh... one of the greatest players
what a great its people
carrying the john deere classic flag is something dream about
and it's come through for us for two years and we pointed out that was the
big deal to the quad cities john deere classic but some of the players
this isn't the biggest of the tournaments of the biggest perks may not be in the
biggest t_v_ market
but it seems have the most down home
feeling small-town homie field i i have this feeling that
for the steve strkers of the world is almost something
they look forward to i don't want to say the pressure is less
you've built a different tournament
what we hear that
i don't know that
we've built anything different
we've uh... allow it
what's happen here for forty years to
continue and as steve said in that
at media day uses this reminds him of what the p_g_a_ tour used to be like
because it used to go to
uh... smaller
uh... metor areas than they do now
uh... and it was still uh... a big deal meant something to people all never
forget
but two years ago uh... in
uh... the media center davis love david duval lucas glover all
uh... with no prompting
brought up in there
uh... media sessions
uh... that they were amazed at how many people said to them as they're walking
across a parking lot
thanks for coming thanks for coming
really appreciate you coming that doesn't happen
uh... when you go to
bigger cities you know when you think that the tourism
los angeles in new york and chicago and
other big places uh...
you know we've got a different feel here or were proud of that
and i think players respond to that we have never and steve said again media
day we've never heard anything
uh... but positive things about our tournament but the only reason that some players
uh... have to say no to us is because of scheduling
and uh... the date the week before the british open
is hurdle for some of them especially if they're european player
but with the jet we have now gone over we've been able of
not eliminated but
diminish the effects of that a little bit so we've
we've got something that's working i think its fair to say christie is that
without john deere the company deere company this tournament it may not exist
anymore i mean so many left
uh... cities other venues and and its support its support for birdies for charity
contribution bigger than you might imagine absolutely and
think that we think about that every day we talk about that everyday literally
about how lucky we are to have
john deere community in general rawa have john deere
has far has the tournament
it's more important now than ever to have uh... title sponsor solid title
that we've got a longer term commitment that pretty much anybody else
on the p_g_a_ tour com because of their additional support of the birdies for charity
program they fully fund the program so that every pledge dollar everybody that
pledges anything to a favorite charity all that go back to the charity
in addition to that were able to take our tournament revenues and turn that into an
additional
amount back to the charities in the form of a bonus
so without john deere none of those things would be possible not to mention
twenty-five million dollar economic impacts each year that that brings to
the area
it's a huge
boost for our community and it
none of this would happen without john deeere i wanna make sure we talk about
volunters i don't want put you on the spot but you've lost the voice of john
deere classic when bob passed away
these are people have been here since
the start it really is a family
yeah i guess when you
but i'm about for forty one years at some point
lose some of those people and part of it
we've hit point
uh... we had
we had
our volunteer sign up
last month
people of a rally step forward
that we have a forget i know that
this year there's a black cappy pin that
a lot of people will be wearing
other committees marshall's lost people over the last couple years operations
lots of people
way always honor them
as well as things were you know we've asked uh... another generation perhaps
step forward we've had
a lot we just had a big kick off
a lot of new volunteers we appreciate
i should point out the bob that would be on the tenth tee
he had the voice
and he annouced the players
made friends with each and every one of them
it does show its be a concern past tournament
chairman
is that the
uh... volunteer effort isn't aging population
you'd
uh... these are people that love the game and been in it since the start
their kind of uh...move
to try to bring in
anymore bring people
the more younger people in is that effore more diffulcult
but you made your quota has you say
well you know
i think uh...
that generation is a very special
group of people
very giving civic-minded
many of them quite honestly because they have time
uh... demands that were the course of the entire week
have controllers them some times your tired
that is an older demographic has a one day event maybe can get more people
so they're very special
i will say that people in town have rally
calls volunteers for other
events too there is no shortage
things that happen over the quad cities in the summer we are moving into a new generation that is civic minded and happy that they are stepping forward kristi you get the last pitch come to the john deere classic stay offened and give give give how do you do that contact your favorite charity they are all out there trying to last minute pledges in 0:17:50.00, 0:18:12.00 you can come to our offices charities are eager to get those pledges in get them in one hundredpercent of the pledge goes back to the charity put a bonus on top of every single pledge thank you kristi don't lora whats the number 1502
in a moment we'll get to the blues but first a local band that has started with
many followers which i was in the belly swirl started
with a group of friends in nineteen ninety nine forming their own band and
since then they've been on stages throughout the area and call themselves
one of the hardest-working bands in the midwest
tonight from their c_d_ live at circa twenty-one this is wicked lives and can't
that was wicked liz and the belly swirls that song was written by band member leo kelly
by the way they will be at brew ha ha wqpt sponsored event
the fourth of july weekend is a time for more than just fireworks are lora adams
tells us why she does a out and about
hi i'm lora adams said this is an without for june thirtieth through july
eighth the three-day mississippi valley blues festival returns for the twenty
sixth year
listen to music in le claire park on the banks of the mississippi river in
downtown davenport two circuses are coming to the mississippi valley fair
grounds for a series of shows for the whole family or celebrate the opening
upcoming flamingo follies at the qc botanical center
the at all by state fireworks show red white and boo takes place july
third reviewing from both rock island and davenport and the quad cities
chamber and the city of east moline
present the fifty third annual and that's what the july parade this here's
the is saluting our american heroes plus the flying fortress aluminum
overcast a restored twenty b_-seventeen bomber joining the davenport
airport for information on these and other events log on to the wqpt
dot org
thank you lora i'm not sure that everyone has some of the blues in them
but you gotta believe most people do and the mississippi valley blues fest was
playing the blues loud and clear as it pains the city's red white and blues
talk about a quad cities tradition
joining me know is judy mcfarland with the blues society and hal reed to be
taking for a lot of the uh...
uh... the blues school events that are going on with that neither parts all of
the jazz subject the blues fest off let's talk about uh... that second
at karen tell me about
the tradition of twenty seven
was the twenty seventh uh... yeah blues festival
forty six years of it
this is something i really do is quite a tradition in quad cities
this is the uh... only major blues festival in the country
that's produced entirely by all volunteer organization which the blues
society is and the fact that it's and it's almost a badge of honor that you
have the
so non-commercial
its pure yeah its pure yeah
we getperformers from all over the world come to our festival on they want to come back
because we treat them so well it's a very hospitable
festival
and uh... a lot of the same people that were the founders of the blues society
are still
volunteering their time and we're talking about a uh... riverfront of
le claire park
fourth of july weekend its a tradition i mean what a great way to sit back and
enjoy great music how absolutely i know we have people coming from all over
that get there early to pick their favorite tree to sit under
and um... we do have a economic impact of two point three million dollars
because we have so many people come from out of town are festival has the
reputation of being just a really nice festival and you can't be b
all right next to the mississippi river ono i know that beautiful river
breeze comes in you can enjoy and hal the other big thing really is where we
talk about the musicians in a second i do want to get blue school as soon as
possible if you have kids that are is the musicians
what a great opportunity for them it is and and blues school
are kids of all ages
uh... we we we have to three sessions per day saturday and sunday
um... first session being up a monica session uh... by uh... david brunson
uh... david is from
uh... tulsa oklahoma i believe
and he he actually passes out hermonicas through the through the kids it's and and
teach them
been five minutes to blow
uh... sort of said that uh... that has been a great
great session for i guess the last ten or twelve years
that he's done that you were surprised how quickly these kids that's
on uh... i was i'm not anymore not anymore
the talent that you see has got to be great excellent excellent
and you see i you you see the kids the rest of the day
i mean throughout the the rest of the festival
they're sitting around on the hermonicas
let's be honest i mean the blues is not just something you
play it something you feel it's something you feel is definitely
something that you feel
our second session is uh... is ellis and myself
uh... we develop a program through the rme
win a blue camp
and it's three to five days
how we structured in the holidays
is between christmas and new years
so we think he is that uh...
basically rock players are in and and we keep him where the blues
there
their music come from where it was rooted
uh... as a reward to the best of those kids
we uh... we have put
these guys together
and to show everybody how a how this program is uh...
destruction so we'll take the second session
and uh... and show
just how we teach the kids
and we'll have a product of it
what they have learned
karen i know that you're so proud to bring the blues of the quad
cities to to get more people exposed to this type of music
tell me some of the great performers that are going to be here
where our biggest name is joe lewis walker who is an international star he's
going to be on saturday night but we've had a divided into three different
themes un friday night is left party night
on the band shell we have uh...
from chicago twenty lindsay alexander starting at five man so
you can just imagine what his music is like that after him is eric
gales phenomenal guitar player who is like the next hendricks
that's who he sounds like and he's just from wonderful guitar player that's
followed by uh...
thats follower by the zydeco hell raisers we'll have some zydeco
outcome it is more than one party not
that's a that's just the first three it on friday nights there
um... are headliners on friday night smoke and joe comeback with the noise came
here from texas they are going to be doing some roadhouse blues than ever in
the test stage
we have to wait
they way the blues were used from mississippi all the guys in that review have been featured
on
mississippi blues trail markers to stay in mississippi has recently put out
trail markers
four blues musicians and towns are lever mississippi and some even outside of the
state
so that's gonna be really interesting on saturday night we have joes lewis
walker on band shell
and over in the tent we're gonna have a tribute co co taylor by four
uh... the women who considered her
their mentor i think we're all looking forward to seeing that actually karen
hal thanks for joining us i do want to point out as karen wants me to point out
is otis clay
chicago musician getting a lifetime achievement award on sunday blues
society really has been putting together this festival since nineteen eighty five
and once again
kids get a lesson of a lifetime during the six blues schools being held
with blues musicians check out the details that the blues fest
website
next week us it is a special broadcast featuring a one of the newest members of
the iowa supreme court pleasant valley attorney tom watermen has already
started hearing cases he'll sit down with me to talk about joining the
state's highest court
and thank you for sitting down and sharing part of your evening with us you
can watch past episodes at our website at W q p g dot org online on the air
thanks for looking into on the cities
production funding for the cities provided by a grant from the doris and
victor day foundation