Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier | Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber

The following was submitted by our Affiliate agencies, the Waterloo Convention and Visitors Bureau and Cedar Falls Tourism. These organizations in collaboration as Cedar Valley Tourism, and with the Alliance & Chamber to promote and maintain high-quality amenities that benefit visitors and residents alike.

Representatives from the Grout Museum District and Cedar Falls Community Main Street were honored at the Iowa Tourism Conference, held in Davenport.

Downtown Cedar Falls was honored as the state’s Outstanding Retail Experience and the Grout Museum’s Iowa Veterans Museum was honored as Iowa’s Outstanding Attraction and for Outstanding Marketing Collaboration.

Distinct features leading to the Main Street award include friendly store owners serving up memorable experiences from 30+ unique shops and boutiques and 20+ bars, cafes and restaurants. The charm of the area, endless events and creative strategies employed the Community Main Street to position the district as a great get away destination were also noted.

The Grout Museum District’s 365 & Counting: Iowans in the Vietnam War exhibit enabled the Grout to capture the Attraction of the Year Award for the second time in five years. The Outstanding Marketing Collaboration was awarded for the partnership that was developed between the Grout and the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier for their Vietnam Veteran’s Profile features. The Grout provided content to reporters from the Voices of Iowa interview collection and the Courier featured 50 area Vietnam veterans, one each day, during the fall of 2015, within the duration of the 365 & Counting: Iowans in the Vietnam War exhibit. The features helped shine a light on the stories of the men and women who proudly served our county during one of the most controversial wars in history and also helped spread awareness about a powerful exhibit that educated the public and helped heal those who lived through it 50 years ago.

Tourism is an $8 billion industry in Iowa, employing 67,400 people statewide and generating more than $466.7 million in state taxes. In Black Hawk County alone, visitors spent $351.7 million dollars.

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Keith Rahe, Travel Federation of Iowa; Carol Lilly, and Jessica Palmer, Cedar Falls Main Street; Kim Manning, Cedar Falls Tourism and Visitors Bureau; Shawna Lode, Iowa Tourism Office.

As a critical election day approaches for the state, KWWL stays on top of the important races. The station will be broadcasting debates for the Governor’s, Senate and 1^st Congressional district races in October.

“Iowans take their politics very seriously,” said Jim McKernan, Vice-President and General Manager of KWWL. “Broadcasting these debates provides viewers the opportunity to hear the candidates without the spin and make an informed decision.”

The Senate debate will be broadcast on Saturday, October 11^th at 7pm. KWWL’s Ron Steele will be present as one of the debate moderators.

The governor’s debate will be broadcast on Tuesday, October 14^th at 7pm. Ron Steele will be present as one moderator.

KWWL will host the 1^st Congressional debate in their studio on Saturday, October 18th at 7pm. Ron Steele and Amanda Goodman will act as moderators along with reporters from the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier and Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, KWWL’s coverage partner.

“Covering state politics is critically important,” said Shane Moreland, KWWL News Director. “As journalists, it’s our obligation to provide this important service to voters. Having local anchors and reporters involved as moderators ensures that the concerns and questions of Iowans will be addressed.”

KWWL also plans to solicit questions from voters via social media. Those interested in submitting questions for consideration during the debates should closely monitor the station’s Facebook and Twitter feeds.

Complete rules and guidelines for the KWWL hosted debate can be found on the station’s website, www.kwwl.com.

QNI is a privately held family owned company with roots in the newspaper business dating back to 1835. Quincy Newspapers, Inc. was formed in 1926 with the merger of The Quincy Herald and The Quincy Whig-Journal.

The company owns and operates NBC affiliates in Quincy and Rockford Illinois, Waterloo and Sioux City, Iowa, Rochester, Minnesota and Bluefield, West Virginia. QNI also operates ABC affiliates in Madison, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Wausau and Eagle River, Wisconsin and a FOX affiliate in South Bend, Indiana. QNI operates another FOX affiliate in Rochester, Minnesota under a shared services agreement. QNI also owns and operates an AM-FM radio combination in Quincy and daily/Sunday newspapers in Quincy, Illinois and Newton, New Jersey.